Christopher Penley (who was 15 years old) brought an airsoft pistol to his high school in Winter Springs, Florida, on Friday, and pointed it at other students. He was later shot by police after raising the pellet gun at a deputy. According to the newspaper I was just reading, from today, he is brain dead.
He had expressed to his neighbour, another 15 year old student of the same high school, that he wanted to kill himself. He had expressed this sentiment "dozens of times". According to the newspaper story I have in front of me, he was bullied mercilessly, and was "emotionally distraught". He wanted to die that day.
<rant>
WTF? Why the hell are high school kids so fucking stupid? Jesus fucking Christ! No, I'm not talking about Penley. I'm talking about the douchebags he had for classmates who bullied him. I sincerely hope that they feel responsible for his death, and that they feel guilty about it for the rest of their lives. It's the same fucking thing as with Columbine. When that happened, I hoped that the people who had ostracized Dylan and Eric and who had bullied them without mercy felt a degree of responibility for every single person that was shot, including Eric and Dylan.
</rant>
I believe in personal responsibility. I also believe that you can be driven to do something by the actions of other people. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to kill myself in high school because of how badly I was treated. If those assholes I went to high school with had treated me better, I would not have wanted to kill myself. I wouldn't have scars on my arm from where I had cut myself, to try to distract myself from the pain of my very existence, and I probably wouldn't have as many issues as I have now. I would probably have a lot more confidence...
Anyhow, I remember that I was wearing a Marine Corps overcoat to school shortly after the Columbine shootings. It was cold, and that was the coat I wore. Anyhow, I can't tell you how many people made cracks about the "Trenchcoat Mafia" and asked me if I was going to shoot up the school. YOu know what I should have done? I should have looked them right in the eyes, each and every one of them, and said, "If I was, you aren't doing a very good job of convincing me otherwise."
<rant>
Every single time shit like that happens, it is an opportunity for teachers and administrators, as well as students, to learn a lesson. So far the only lesson that has been learned is to upgrade security, which is not the lesson that they SHOULD be learning. They SHOULD be learning that they need to stop the problem in its infancy, when it is only the jocks, preps, or other popular clique tormenting the loner and/or outcast. They need to realize that bullying DOES exist, and that it is a REAL problem, one that will only lead to bigger problems if it is not stopped as soon as it is discovered. You know why high school victims of bullying never report it? Because nothing gets done. It's always brushed off as "teenagers being teenagers". Well, have that attitude, and you may find yourself with a few more teenagers who don't live to become adults.
</rant>
I hope to the god I don't believe in that, when I become a teacher, I don't have the same level of complacency toward bullying that it seems other teachers do.
I'm going to post this on the Current Events Board...
He had expressed to his neighbour, another 15 year old student of the same high school, that he wanted to kill himself. He had expressed this sentiment "dozens of times". According to the newspaper story I have in front of me, he was bullied mercilessly, and was "emotionally distraught". He wanted to die that day.
<rant>
WTF? Why the hell are high school kids so fucking stupid? Jesus fucking Christ! No, I'm not talking about Penley. I'm talking about the douchebags he had for classmates who bullied him. I sincerely hope that they feel responsible for his death, and that they feel guilty about it for the rest of their lives. It's the same fucking thing as with Columbine. When that happened, I hoped that the people who had ostracized Dylan and Eric and who had bullied them without mercy felt a degree of responibility for every single person that was shot, including Eric and Dylan.
</rant>
I believe in personal responsibility. I also believe that you can be driven to do something by the actions of other people. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to kill myself in high school because of how badly I was treated. If those assholes I went to high school with had treated me better, I would not have wanted to kill myself. I wouldn't have scars on my arm from where I had cut myself, to try to distract myself from the pain of my very existence, and I probably wouldn't have as many issues as I have now. I would probably have a lot more confidence...
Anyhow, I remember that I was wearing a Marine Corps overcoat to school shortly after the Columbine shootings. It was cold, and that was the coat I wore. Anyhow, I can't tell you how many people made cracks about the "Trenchcoat Mafia" and asked me if I was going to shoot up the school. YOu know what I should have done? I should have looked them right in the eyes, each and every one of them, and said, "If I was, you aren't doing a very good job of convincing me otherwise."
<rant>
Every single time shit like that happens, it is an opportunity for teachers and administrators, as well as students, to learn a lesson. So far the only lesson that has been learned is to upgrade security, which is not the lesson that they SHOULD be learning. They SHOULD be learning that they need to stop the problem in its infancy, when it is only the jocks, preps, or other popular clique tormenting the loner and/or outcast. They need to realize that bullying DOES exist, and that it is a REAL problem, one that will only lead to bigger problems if it is not stopped as soon as it is discovered. You know why high school victims of bullying never report it? Because nothing gets done. It's always brushed off as "teenagers being teenagers". Well, have that attitude, and you may find yourself with a few more teenagers who don't live to become adults.
</rant>
I hope to the god I don't believe in that, when I become a teacher, I don't have the same level of complacency toward bullying that it seems other teachers do.
I'm going to post this on the Current Events Board...
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
I'm with you on the stance that bullying kids are definitely part of the problem that often gets overlooked. I used to beat the hell out of people in school to defend myself against the bullying. It worked for me, but I got in my fair share of trouble. I never shot anyone, but sometimes you have to retaliate in order to achieve the serenity you deserve.
Nobody deserves to be bullied, physically or verbally. People do not have a right to acceptance (because that would mean others have no right to not like someone) but they do have a right to tolerance and peace.
Still, nothing excuses what the Columbine kids did or what the Penley kid did. The Columbine kids were sick fucking murderers. You don't respond to teasing, called names, or being punched a few times with lethal force. I was bullied in all these ways in high school, and I never thought, "For these far lesser actions, their just punishment is DEATH!"
And as for Penley, someone should have reached out to help him long ago. This neighbor of his should have been telling people he was suicidal long BEFORE he essentially killed himself. And he did it in a cowardly way too. He hung a burden of guilt on an innocent policeman who thought he was defending himself and others and now must go through life knowing he killed a kid.
I'm an actual believer in personal responsibility. Nobody dances on puppet strings. The bullies must answer for their own actions, and that is all, they're bad enough. The killers must answer for their own actions. No one else. Nobody else put those guns in their hands. Killing those who aren't trying to kill you is murder. I have sympathy for victims, not those who make them.