So, moving out on Saturday. Well I'm not entirely moving out on Saturday, just starting the process. If anyone knows where I can scored a cheap bedframe in the Kalamazoo area, you give me a holler, okay?
Coming up on the move has causes a certain degree of nostalgia, various floods of old memories and, inexplicably, some introspection. Taken as a whole, I don't think I could've asked for a better quarter-century... well I could've but it seems to me that things worked out for the best despite me still lacking a college degree (oh how I wish I had a framed piece of smart-paper to hang next to me at the next retail store or fast food joint I'll inevitably become employed at). Anyway, my bitterness about the post-secondary education system aside, I do have something I'd like to discuss, a memory I thought long lost that came back, I believe, as a product of the VT shootings and my introspection.
About 6 years ago now I lead a youth group lesson on bullying as a result of an article I'd read in one of the Detroit papers. The article told the story of Tempest Smith, a 12-year old wiccan girl who had been bullied by her classmates because of her religious beliefs. They would literally form a circle around her and sing "Jesus loves me". Tempest hung herself on February 20th, 2001. For whatever reason, the story stuck with me. Likely it's because I was bullied when I was younger. 4th through 8th grades were not happy years for me and it certainly felt like hell at the time. But this really isn't about me. I've neither gone on a shooting rampage and as you can tell by me typing this, I haven't killed myself either.
In truth, this article isn't even really about bullying or those who snap due to it. It's about the fundamental belief behind the bullying. The fundamental belief that Ayn Rand claimed as the fundamental evil of all human-kind. The belief that the lives of others aren't as valuable as your own. Even the golden rule is an off-shoot of this notion. You should not treat others well because "it's the right thing to do" but because you realize that every other person you come in contact with has a life equal in value to your own.
Unfortunately folks have made the golden rule the basis for their broken morality instead of the virtue of valuing life that the golden rule is founded upon. It's been one longass time since anyone considered the meaning of "All men are created equal". Think I'm exagerating? Think I've finally lost the plot? Check your local TV schedules. See all the reality TV? It's misery on parade.
Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not trying to blame the victims of any of the school shooting over the last decade. The shooters made a choice and for that they are responsible. However, it should be noted that the shooters were, in all the cases I've heard, vicitims first in their own right. What it comes down to then, is the idea that we should treat others as though their lives hold value equal to our own. It is my belief that if we do, similar tragedies will be avoided in the future.
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