I own guns. I will probably always own guns. But I just can’t wrap my head around a teenager, just days before graduation, being lauded as a hero because his school, the STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado, was under attack by another teenager . . . with a gun. Kendrick Castillo‘s heroism saved many lives. Unfortunately, the 18-year-old had to die for the world to know of his heroism. What’s worse is that Castillo’s death is not uncommon. Riley Howell, a 21-year-old University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC) student, is another student being honored as a hero. His death, one week before Castillo’s, is the results of a shooting at UNCC that left two dead and four injured. Do these young people have to die for us to see the content of their character?
Each time there’s a shooting, the actions of young people like Riley Howell and Kendrick Castillo make me revisit my own feelings about engaging active shooters. I can’t ignore the feeling that we have normalized school shootings. That makes America a sad place – and we seem to ignore the obvious.
Continue reading
