I have thought long and hard about this tragedy, and about Paul's words
(Paul A., not St.), for in a sense it struck so close to our home.
This tragedy had nothing to do with the "gun culture", or the "American
character", or parental irresponsibility, or the failure of the system.
It did have everything to do with a young man with a serious mental
illness. Sadly, many will today attempt to politicize his actions for
their own political agendas.
As descriptions of him and his behavior began to emerge, I could see him
in my own 16-year old grandson. Christipher has been diagnosed as a
violent, bi-polar schizophrenic, and will hopefully be institutionalized
within a few weeks. But he was not always that way. Christipher was
for most of his life the kindest, most gentle, and most well-mannered
boy you would want to have in your family. The little old folks in the
retirement home where my mother had lived loved his company, as he did
theirs. Good looking, smart, and in love with life, he was wonderful.
What our family did not know was that at 13, someone introduced this
naive kid to marijuana. Then came the small, but noticeable changes;
truancy that the school did not report to his parents, disinterest in
things he had previously loved, antagonism towards his family, and a
"goth" lifestyle. The school's failure to uphold its in loco parentis
responsibilities during the majority of his waking hours led to a dismal
spiral downward and a failure of the eighth grade. The runaways became
more frequent and of longer duration. He has been in mental hospitals
15 times in the last two years. And for two years, my daughter and her
husband have been building files, seeking help fom the police, the
school authorities, the country social services, and an attorney.
Now diagnosed as a violent bi-polar and suicidal shizophrenic, he is now
a full-fledged punk, and has been missing for two weeks. Like Cho, the
county's psychiatrist has still dismissed his behavior. You see, he is
a schitzophrenic, and can easily switch personalities to suit his
needs. Fortunately, my daughter and son-in-law have persisted when most
other parents I believe would have given up. Within three weeks, while
I am in England, he will be taken away to a lock-down residential
school, somewhere out of state. Hopefully, he will be on his meds long
enough to change his learned behaviors.
Research has now demonstrated pretty conclusively that when a young
child begins using marijuana at an early age, the chemicals present in
pot bring about the same symptoms Christipher now exhibits; bi-polar,
violent, suicidal, and schizophrenia. Not in all children, and
reversable in some if caught early enough. I swear, if I knew who
introduced Christipher to pot, I would....
The description of Cho by his peers and his professors is so like that
of Christipher it is chilling. I have to wonder if he, too, experimented.
My heart goes out not only to the victim's families, but to Cho's as
well, for he was himself of victim.
Thank you, Paul, for opening up the opportunity for me to share.
Buster Evans
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