By Mallory Sherwood, Managing Editor

Face the Facts

Six seventh-graders were arrested Saturday in North Pole, Alaska, for plotting to murder classmates and teachers at North Pole Middle School.

Their arrests came only two days after five high school students were arrested in Riverton, Kan., hours before they could pull off their plan to kill fellow classmates and school employees on the seventh anniversary of the Columbine school shooting that killed 13 people in Littleton, Colo., in 1999.

What is happening in the minds of children and students that they feel the need to kill others as well as themselves in an act of retribution?

The middle school students in North Pole had planned to disable the school’s power and telephone systems so they could kill teachers and fellow classmates who had bullied them and still make an escape from the town of 1,600 people.

How would a seventh-grader know how to disable a telephone and power system?

When I was in seventh grade, I didn’t know how to use hair gel much less how the power system for my school was set up. I worried about fitting in with the popular girls, if the kid whose locker was just up from mine liked me and how I was always the last person to finish running the mile in gym class.

In seventh grade, I knew the lyrics to the top 10 popular songs including: Hanson’s “MmmBop,” Shawn Colvin’s “Sunny Came Home,” Puff Daddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You,” Dave Matthews Band’s “Crash Into Me,” Elton’s John’s “Candle in the Wind,” following Princess Diana’s death, and Spice Girls’ “Wannabe.”

In seventh grade, El Nino was the biggest threat and Lindsay Lohan entered Hollywood with her role in her debut film The Parent Trap.

Life seemed so simple then. Sure, kids picked on those smaller, fatter, dumber and smarter than themselves – but who hasn’t been picked on for something? Some things never change.

It seems like the students who become sharp shooters in their school halls are the ones who have been picked on, forgotten and neglected. Why are students now taking out their aggression in the form of violence?

People point to the media, violent video games, Marilyn Manson’s music and lack of parenting among other factors. I don’t have an answer to the increased violence seen in youth today, but I do have a solution.

Each person on this campus should be here because they want to make a difference in life – whether in theirs or others. Most people realize that those prone to act in violence toward others are usually the ones that need love and a friend.

Take this challenge and make a difference in the life of a child. Take five minutes out of your day to connect with someone younger than yourself and let them know that someone is interested in them.

Make a point to invest in the life of someone who looks up to you. Listen to a child, even if this means subjecting yourself to rambling about boys, sports or video games. Befriend a child because everyone on campus has already gone through middle school and high school and knows how hard it can be.

What’s stopping you from making a difference today?