"We cannot heal what we are unwilling to look at;

what we do not heal now

becomes baggage that is carried into the future.”

 

                                             It's been forty-six minutes since the active shooters were found. Standing in silence, I observe my                                                                  surroundings. Being a Forensic Profiler and Handwriting Analyst-Practitioner, this                                                                               became one of the too many school shootings I have profiled.

 

                                                        The smell of death and the splatter of scarlet red throughout the halls tell a different                                                                        story of each victim's last moments. Teachers amazingly keep their emotions concealed                                                               while helping students through the maze of bodies and blood. Terrified, screaming                                                                  students exit the school building into the arms of distraught parents and loved ones.  

 

Walking the hallways, I scrutinize posters, pictures, and notes on the

bulletin boards, gazing into the minds of the students through their

handwriting and artwork. Visualizing the future outcome of these students

is like peering into obscurity; there are so many confused children with

identity issues, depression, sexual abuse, and suicidal thoughts.

 

These shootings have become all too familiar within America’s school

system. Each school had the opportunity to identify these characteristics

and could have prevented these children from wandering into the

darkness with no promise of return.  

 

So where are the prevention steps? Why does this keep happening?

What is taking so long for the appropriate protocols to be put in place?

Could it be that we are focusing too intensely on the distractions used to

cause these heartless acts versus the obstacles creating them?

 

                 Now imagine: we turn the "what if's” into a reality...

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