"S/He Was Such a Quiet Person"

Yesterday a youth went to a local high school, with no fewer than 10 explosive devices, a chain saw and a sword with a 2-foot long blade because he was unhappy with his educational experience at this same school. He had, apparently, been expelled last year.

He managed to detonate 2 of the explosive devices before teachers and the principal ran towards him (yeah, that's not a typo - they ran TOWARDS him) and wrapped themselves around him, got him on the ground, and held him there until the authorities arrived.

And it didn't take any more than four hours for someone to utter the phrase we've heard in situations like this so many times in post-incident interviews ... "he was a quiet boy. Kept to himself mostly. Didn't seem to have many friends. Don't know that I saw him smile much."

From what the reports are saying, the plan of the "quiet boy" was to have all 10 explosives go off and then use the sword or the chainsaw on whomever tried to leave the building alive. He built the devices himself - purchasing items for "model rockets" (as he told his family) over the web since March of this year. They didn't question him because they were happy to see he had a new hobby. They hoped it would get him out in the fresh air - maybe he'd make some friends. But no, they didn't talk to him about it.

The first teacher that grabbed the kid is being called (rightfully, in my opinion) a hero. This guy (the teacher) is all of 34 years old, married with a small kid at home and, in interview after interview, he's waiving off the "hero" title, saying that he didn't have time to debate his actions - it just was what he knew was right. In fact, just now, he said that the only hero he knows is his brother, who is serving in Iraq currently.

It's sad that this youth felt that the proper response to his feelings was to try to take so many lives. It's amazing that no one was seriously hurt. It's incredible that it takes activities like this for us to call teachers "heroes". It's tragic that some parents will fail to use this experience as a doorway to talk to their sullen teenager.

The school was closed today, to allow for a security review of the facility and to let teachers and parents respond and recover. It's due to be back in session tomorrow.

*sigh* High school life in 2009. While I enjoyed my years back in the 80's, ya' couldn't PAY me to go back today.