"THIS HIGIH SCHOOL SENIOR EXPLAINS WHY IT'S BETTER TO 'WALK UP' TO HELP OTHERS THAN TO WALK OUT OF CLASSES" - Rachel del Guidice / @LRacheldG / March 14, 2018 / http://dailysignal.com/2018/03/14/this-high-school-senior-explains-why-its-better-to-walk-up-to-help-others-than-to-walk-out-of-classes [AS I SEE IT: Yes, Yes, Yes!! Days after the recent school shooting in South Florida, I remember telling a friend that I was praying that youth pastors would take the occasion to ask their youth what they were doing to engage with those in their circle of influence who were alone or were otherwise hurting and to challenge them to do so, to BE JESUS to their friends. It may or may not lead to an opportunity to SHARE JESUS but who knows? They didn't have to feel pressured to give wise counsel but to mainly be willing to listen and to offer to pray for that individual. I recall an incident about a year ago here in Florida in which a group of college football players visited a local middle school. One of the players noticed a boy sitting by himself and made a point of sitting down and engaging in conversation with him. No, that student was not planning an act of violence against others or himself (suicide). But he still needed someone to reach out to him. When I saw this news story, my first reaction was, "Where were the Christian students at this school? Why were they not engaging with that boy and others like him?" This challenge also concerns Christian adults and calls them (us) to ask whether they were taking the time to engage with those at their work place to BE JESUS, and then possibly have an opportunity to SHARE JESUS. Too often we are too engaged with our own problems and circle of friends to notice those around us who need for us to reach out to them - if but to just be a listening ear. - [P.S. - Have you ever considered how many more times youth are committing suicide each day than are killed by an act of violence by another? It's been increasing for so long people have called it an epidemic!) - Stan]
While students across the country protest school shootings Wednesday with walkouts, one senior says her school in Utah is encouraging students to “walk up, not out” and show an act of kindness.
“I feel like the media tends to focus a lot on the anger, hurt, and destruction of our youth in society,” Alessa Love, who attends Westlake High School in Saratoga Springs, told The Daily Signal in a phone interview. “And I feel it would be nice to have some healing and to show some kindness and help students not feel alone or upset or hurt,” Love, 18, said, “because actually we might be able to stop the violent acts before we experience them.”
Those participating in the walkout alternative are using the hashtag #WalkUpNotOut on social media to promote the idea. In a Facebook post Monday, Westlake High asked students to reach out to their peers by doing things such as walking up to other students who sit alone at lunch and inviting them into a group, or approaching someone who causes a disturbance in class to ask about how he or she is doing.
The school encouraged such actions as an alternative to leaving the building to protest school shootings and other crimes committed with guns. “Frederick Douglass said, ‘It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men,’ so just going up and talking to someone and being that friend just makes a huge difference,” Love told The Daily Signal.
Students across the country organized National Walkout Day for Wednesday to demand solutions one month after the Feb. 14 massacre at a high school in Parkland, Florida, when a 19-year-old with a rifle killed 17 and wounded 17 others. They have used the hashtag #NationalWalkoutDay on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.
Preventing violence might be better accomplished with student-to-student outreach, Love said.
“I’m not a doctor and I’m not a politician, and so I am just a student trying to help another student and I care,” the Utah student said. “I just feel like if we can save a student from [violent] thoughts or violent acts, we can save many more from being victims. And I just feel it’s always important to be that friend and to be that person.”
Alessa Love is the eldest of the three children of Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, and husband Jason Love.
Westlake High has about 4,000 students and the school leadership hopes all of them will participate, she said, adding that students should take the challenge beyond high school. “I just think that it can carry throughout your life, to be that friend and encourage one another and help others before they have those violent acts and they go seek a gun,” Love said. “Just to be that friend.”
[italics and colored emphasis mine]
"Emotion and Reality *In the School Safety Debate" - Will government measures to protect students on campus really help?by Leigh Jones, 314/18,
https://world.wng.org/content/emotion_and_reality_in_the_school_safety_debate
Fox notes more children die each year from pool drownings and bicycle accidents. And the frequency of school shootings has declined since the 1990s, which saw four times more students die in school shootings than today.
Education and government officials should still consider ways to make students safer, Fox said, but they need to approach the task with realistic expectations.“The thing to remember is that these are extremely rare events, and no matter what you can come up with to prevent it, the shooter will have a workaround,” he said.
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