by Ryan Gray

Created on: February 27, 2010

It is an editorial cartoon from about five years ago that I remember like something I saw yesterday.

A man dressed in a patriotic outfit (symbolizing Uncle Sam) is hard at work on a concrete wall designed to keep illegal immigrants out of this country.

He is looking back over his shoulder with a confused look on his face and a big question mark over his head.

His confused eyes are gazing toward a school building in the background. The flag flying atop the school has a pistol on it with smoke coming from the chamber – as if it has just been used.

And a small line coming from the school is connected to four thin letters – HELP! It represents a call coming from someone inside the building.

At that time the cartoonist was sending the message that the government needed to spend less time worrying about keeping people out of this country and more time taking care of the people in it. (A message that is still worth some attention today.)

Although that cartoon featured a nationwide message, it would work perfectly in a campaign to draw more attention to the horrible tragedies known as school shootings.

The changes and improvements that have been made in public schools, colleges and universities are wonderful. But there is still work to be done.

As a person who works in a school every day, I can't even imagine how a shooting would destroy the people, the environment and the community.

Usually I don't root for politicians to get involved in much of anything. However, this is one issue where they could have a significant impact. And it would only be positive.

Several stories and editorials have been written about school shootings, and I have read many of them. I recall one where the author was complaining that because of a series of isolated incidents over the years that had been blown out of proportion, the rights of parents and teachers to discipline youth had been taken away.

That stood out from the others because I had never considered that. But it made a lot of sense to me. Here is where the politicians come in.

If they can focus in on the needs of the majority instead of the wants of the noisy few, some of these rights could be restored.

Then parents wouldn't have to be concerned about putting a hand on their own child in public if the child's attitude and/or behavior are not suitable for the situation. Parents should not have to look around and see who is in the room before they decide whether to shake a finger, yell or spank.

Likewise, teachers should not have to go through these “carefully designed” plans that call for giving the misbehaving child four or five tries to shape up before handing out any real punishment.

If a child develops the attitude that “I can do whatever I want. They're not going to do anything to me,” is anyone benefiting from that?

All of the discussion about gun laws is important, and it would be great if lawmakers could develop a plan to keep firearms away from youngsters until they hit the age of 16. But since the children are surrounded by adults who leave things lying around and leave cabinets unlocked, no plan can fix that.

Guns are designed to shoot and nothing else. People can shoot, too, but they are capable of much, much more. That's why the best thing we can do is work to preserve and improve the people.

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