I read the news today, oh boy...

One 8 year old boy is sitting in jail pending arraignment for the premeditated murder of his father and his father's friend with a shotgun. An 18 year old just got life without parole for the stabbing death of his best friend 4 years ago. Seems he lured his friend into the bathroom at their middle school and stabbed him 42 times so that his friend couldn't tell anyone of the fact that he was planning to become a serial killer. He also had plans to murder another friend and his sister as part of the cover up.

Is it just me, or do these kinds of happenings just point out that there is something seriously wrong? If only this sort of violence was isolated, but it is not. Columbine, Heritage High, Virginia Tech, and scores of other murders committed by teens and children have been most noteworthy for the level of violence and degree of planning and foresight. While murders by children have always existed, it is this escalation of method that is truly disturbing. The other thing that stands out is the lack of awareness that the parents of the children seem to share. Everyone else around these children sensed there was something "not quite right" to outright wrong, but no one did anything about it or seemed to be able to communicate to the parents the seriousness of the situation.

There are so many reasons why this sort of thing occurs, but we need to take a look at, and take responsibility for, society's role in what happened. We card children when they try to buy alcohol or cigarettes, but do we card them when they try to get into or rent violent films? Do we card them when they try to purchase violent video games? Do we do enough to make parents aware of the damage these things do? When I can go and see a horror film on a Friday night and see parents there with their small children, there's something wrong.

These crimes are shocking, and they should be. They are a warning sign, a wake up bell. We all need to listen, pay attention, and come up with viable preventative methods to keep this from happening in the future.