I just verified with my mother that I was not born at 6:34 a.m., which means I was alert first thing that morning. Strangely enough that is my lead-in to one of the toughest topics I believe I have addressed in this column in the last 20 years. If I were a parent of any student in the Uvalde, Texas, school system, I would not sleep until I found some answers. From where I stand, it is clear that a classroom full of students and two adults were used as sacrificial lambs for political purposes.
It does not take much research to learn that there was a very open anger issue with this young man that led to the pain and misery of so many. It is clear he was openly posting on social media platforms and even had discussions with others about what he was about to do. I do not believe he had some direct plan of action although I believe he simply wanted to cause pain, misery and chaos.
I believe this is a direct result of the erosion of the family unit. Some in this country have glamourized every lifestyle except that of a family with a mother and a father. At times society has particularly demonized fathers for so long that we may have a generation that struggles to understand what a real family unit is. This is the real root cause of the problem as I see it and I hope that someone finally grabs the bull by the horns and realizes parenting needs to be job one and we need to start building strong families again.
It is clear that psychological warfare is used around the world on a daily basis. It is quite easy to see how, with the openness of this kids’ posts, that he could be identified as a possible pawn in this chess game. The real question is: why wasn’t he stopped by the authorities that had to have known he was a threat to mankind?
This kid in Texas ends up legally purchasing a gun manufactured by Daniel Defense that has openly used kids in advertisements about teaching them proper gun safety skills at a young age. I don’t think that was an accident and the fact that the guns they sell are very expensive also raises questions. I fully believe that the real bad guys are those that got inside of this kid’s head and led him down a path of destruction.
Back to where I started; if I were a parent of one of these kids who fell prey to this rage of evil, I would be on the mission of a lifetime to seek some real answers. Why do I need to be directly involved with that mission? Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote has been driving me and should be motivation enough for the rest of you as well:
“We will remember NOT the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Enough said.
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the views of High Plains Journal. Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].