[Scfdglkn]

As the mother of a teenager, I have talked with her and her friends about these tragidies. Their thoughts and views have opened my eyes greatly. For the most part, they don't blame guns, the media, video games, music or any of the other scapegoats we hear about. The two major things they focus on is the devaluing of human life and parent involvement.

With abortion being legal, many parents who are too busy for their children or treat them as an inconvenience, they don't see life as precious. So many kids are growing up without knowing that they are a child of God and that life is what He breathed into them, with love and purpose. They don't feel that their life is respected and don't respect the lives of others. They see human life as disposable.

Especially with the incidents in high schools, many ask where the parents are? How are students building bombs, gathering firearms, and planning these things in their homes without their parents knowledge? Aren't parents supposed to protect their children from the world and from themselves? What are they doing instead? These are the questions I've been asked by teenagers.

I see that there is also a huge lack of accountability to God for their actions. There may be some accountability to parents and law enforcement, but without respect, it's fairly meaningless. They need to be taught to fear God and His judgement from a very early age.

I don't pretend to be a perfect parent, but I am confident that there is not a place in my home that my daugther or her friends could hide anything bigger than a quarter for long without my finding it. I try to tell every child that enters my house that they are special and that God loves them. I ask them what's going on in their lives, and listen.

I'm sorry to go off on a rant here, but this is something that I am passionate about. I think that we're addressing this wrong and that Satan is doing a good job of keeping us distracted from the real solution. Putting God back at the center of our lives, our families, our schools and our communities is the only way to fix this brokenness.

Servant of Christ,
Sophia