Today I read the New York Times with a very heavy heart. There has been another school shooting massacre at the Northern Illinois University. An unnamed gunman opened fire in a lecture hall, killing five students and injuring sixteen before killing himself. At this time it appears that the shooter was a former graduate student at the University. (Update - the killer has now been identified as Stephen P. Kazmierczak, age 27, and four of the victims have been identified as Daniel Parmenter, age 20, Catalina Garcia, age 20, Ryanne Mace, age 19, and Julianna Gehant, age 32.)

As a parent, I feel helpless. Schools and universities were once considered safe environments in which children could make the transition to adulthood. What is happening to that sheltered place? What can be done to stop it from happening over and over again? Why are children falling at the hands of their classmates? And what is happening to society that people cannot manage their anger or inner demons?

This was not the only depressing story in this morning’s National news. The New York Times featured two other stories that caught my eye and broke my heart. One story was headlined Attacks on the Homeless Rise, With Youths Mostly to Blame and the other When Strains on Military Families Turn Deadly. All three stories have one common theme - brutal acts of crime committed by young people.

Why? Have violent tv shows, video games, and movies desensitized today’s youth? Or are the pressures too heavy to handle? Or are we not teaching our children the skills to cope with stress or at least the knowledge to recognize that they need help and that help is available?

And what about the victims? How do families come to terms with the fact that their loved one was taken from them randomly because of someone else’s rage?

It is just all so senseless.