by Happy writer

Created on: May 24, 2008

You never know what goes on behind closed doors.

Passing your neighbor walking his dog down your colorful tree lined neighborhood sidewalk you greet each other with an easy chirpy hello, a trusting hello, after all, you've been annexed together for almost 15 years. Many exchanges have passed between then and now, many cups of sugar borrowed. You feel that you know him, he's a part of your community, he even picks up your mail when you go out of town. But do you really know who he is?

Eric Harris, one of the boys responsible for the Columbine Massacre, according to neighbors was "A very nice polite clean cut kid". - 12 children and a teacher were killed 23 others wounded.

Buford O'Neal Furrrow was described by neighbors as "A very pleasant individual". - He killed a postal worker and wounded 5 people at a Jewish community center. Furrow was a member of the Aryan Nation and a wife beater.

Jeffrey Dahmer was characterized by neighbors as "Shy, a little withdrawn, but not really bizarre - he was the average Joe". - Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys. His murders involved rape, necrophilia and cannibalism.

Were there signs beforehand? Could these murders have been prevented?

Eric Harris's life was dense with warnings of things to come, from his behaviors, the web sites he viewed, to the web sites, the journals and video tapes he created. In one of his videos he chillingly foretells subsequent dialogues , he says "if only we had checked his room, if only we had asked more questions"

Furrows was reported a month or so before the shootings to have said to his psychiatrist "Sometimes I feel like I could just lose it and kill people" . His track record is packed to the gunwales with extreme acts of violence.

By age ten, Dahmer was experimenting with dead animals, decapitating rodents, bleaching chicken bones with acid, nailing a dog's carcass to a tree and mounting its head on a stick. Later he was convicted and spent 10 months in jail for sexual assault and was even brought back in for questioning when one of his victims escaped bruised and battered. Because the Vitim spoke no English the police released him back to Dahmer assuming them to be lovers.

Who is your child? Do you know? Are you sure? If we take time to figure out who our children really are, what influences them and what they need, could these empty indiscriminate killings be avoided?

Do you really know what's going on behind your child's bedroom door?

Do you really know your neighbor?

Learn more about this author, Happy writer.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.