By: Rhona Canoy SO... When I heard about the teacher who was stabbed to death by her student, it saddened me. Not just because she had taught for a couple of years at one of our family’s schools, but also because it brought into focus just how far our society has deteriorated. A student was interviewed regarding the incident and said that this was a result of parental neglect. It is so easy to pin this on parents. Just like the proposed law that will punish parents for their children’s misbehaviors. But this is beyond misbehavior. This was an intentional deed meant to terminate another human’s life. It was decided lightly, through drawing lots, by a trio of boys of similar age. And most of all, there is no remorse. This is an act of pure evil. Why is it alarming? Because it happened in our own backyard? Because it happened and we were unprepared? Or because it happened at all? The intense seriousness of the killing is a very loud alarm bell. And we need to pay attention. There is an obvious disconnect between the perpetrators (because those who partook of the lottery are equally culpable, in my opinion) and their perception of reality. The ease with which they regard the taking of human life is more common than we want to acknowledge. The one-click generation. That is what these boys represent. They believe in instant gratification. Everything can be solved at once. According to their wishes. Not according to what should be, as defined by social more and values. This is the generation that doesn’t handle stress, crisis, or rejection well (if at all). And we as parents, teachers, figures of authority, where are we in this whole equation? What have we done or neglected to do that has resulted in this? I stand on my contention that because we are technologically connected to our children, that doesn’t necessarily mean that there is a personal connection. Do we know our children? Do we help them deal with their fears, their insecurities, their anger? Do we make them feel safe and supported? Do these children see us as positive examples? Or... Do we hold them up to strict unforgiving scrutiny? Do we set unrealistic goals and expectations and then punish them for not meeting these “requirements”? Do we make them feel worthless, abandoned, ignored, bullied? Do we pay less attention to their humanity and treat them as belongings? At the end of the day, Diana Ross’s suggestion that “what the world needs now is love” needs revisiting. We seem to have redefined the meaning of this word and how it applies to our children. Add “unconditionally” to that, and we really are in trouble. So many questions, with no answers in sight. Maybe we need to start pointing the fingers at ourselves. Maybe we need to find sense in a world fast becoming senseless. Maybe we need to accept that the world is what we put in it. If we don’t see it from this perspective, then we are truly doomed because we have nowhere else to go. If we don’t stand up and face this evil, maybe we are due for another flood of Noah proportions. Maybe God has been sending us signals. And we just aren’t listening.