Topic category:  Other/General

The recent spate of school shootings -like the many that preceded it- is not so much a statement of the mental health of our children, as it is a statement of the moral health of our nation.

There used to be a time when problems were solved differently. If the schoolyard bully stole your lunch, or some jerk wolf-whistled at your wife, or stole your parking space, you went out back and the two of you pummeled each other until somebody won. Black eyes were a right of passage.

When it was over, the winner said his piece, picked the loser up off the ground, and the two went their separate ways. This way of resolving conflict was imprinted on me in my childhood. It is how my brothers and I solved our problems, often times with each other. It is how my father solved his problems, indeed how society solved it's problems, once reason and civility failed.

In today's world, the loser of the fight files assault charges or sues you for all you're worth; Or he goes home, grabs his gun or steals his father's, and takes care their of his problem by putting a bullet in the winner's head.

In today's world, people act more enlightened. They look at the use of violence of any sort to solve problems - whether it be a schoolyard brawl, or outright war- with upturned noses, as if only subhumans defended themselves. Think zero-tolerance. They reality is, that that isn't the way the world works. It is full of conflict. And contrasts. Rich vs. Poor. Strong vs. Weak. Good vs. Evil. Right vs. Wrong.

As human beings, we must constantly seek to achieve some sort of equilibrium; some sense of balance with these contrasts, and understand that sometimes it's necessary to engage in violence, in order to achieve peace, or to confront evil.

What political correctness does, is seek to upset that sense of balance. It's adherents believe that it would create a more polite society, but the reality is the exact opposite. With political correctness, even controlled violence is wrong. Get in a schoolyard fight, and you'll be expelled.

In today's PC society, if someone would call out that bully or parking space thief to settle the score, they would either be expelled from school, shot, sued, or put in jail. Therefore they swallow their pride like 50 pounds of concrete and try to forget about it.

So what we're left with is a nation of people with a profound feeling that there is no justice, and it makes them angry. They try to ignore these feelings, but they simmer on - much like a pot of water. Left unattended, they boil over. This is what occurs regularly in these school shootings. In the Amish murders, in the killer's own words, he had been holding on to his grudge for 20 years.

But that incident is atypical of the pattern of shooters. The vast majority of school shootings are carried out by students of the schools themselves, and most shooters admit to being bullied. Unable to escape, they decide to exact justice, taking as many of those they perceive as their tormentors with them.

The three R's used to mean Readin', 'Ritin', and 'Rithmetic. Our schools used to be places that were safe from predators and murderers. Now the three R's mean Rejection, Retaliation, and Revenge.

It's no coincidence that mass-murder in our nation's schools became commonplace at the same time political correctness began it's insidious infection of our minds, which continues to this day. Men have engaged in battle over insults to their honor for centuries. Medeival knights; duels; wild west gunfights. All had deadly outcomes, but those who participated did so to right a wrong.

It is the height of arrogance for liberals to think they can socially engineer an end to all violence. In the end, it just backfires, and has the opposite effect. With no outlet for seeking justice against society's bullies, and ill equipped by their parents for handling conflict in a constructive fashion, these ticking time-bombs will continue to go off in our nation's schools.

Jayme Evans

Biography - Jayme Evans

Jayme Evans is a veteran of the United States Navy, a military analyst, conservative opinion columnist, and an advocate for disabled and other veterans. He has served for many years as a Subject Matter Expert specializing in the testing of systems software for numerous major US organizations. He has extensively studied amateur astronomy and metallurgy, as well as military and US history. His brutally honest, in-your-face political commentary has been published in many west coast newspapers, and he is a regular contributing columnist to a multitude of internet sites, including WebCommentary.com, The Conservative Voice, and Conservative Crusader. Mr. Evans has also written guest editorials for Military Magazine, and he has been a frequent guest columnist on WorldNetDaily, writing about legislative and veteran's issues.