Warning: This is probably as close to a social commentary as I'm ever going to get

Looking at the headlines these last few days, I'm forced to realize the truth. Here we go again - another shooting in school. We have that psycho teenager who had talked about killing his classmates walking around, emptying the gun, then reloading four times before it was over. And at nearly the same time, we have an eight-year-old with a gun in his backpack. Must make an interesting show and tell piece, I'm guessing.

What in the hell is happening to our society? I was in high school ten years ago, and we didn't have this crap. Columbine was a wake up call to the nation years ago, and now it's looking like the norm. Our stressed out, borderline schizophrenic youths are finally realizing there is a way to get attention from parents and peers. You shoot someone.

" I'm so angst-ridden. I hate classes, I hate going to school. The other kids make fun of me, the way I dress. And Julie, the girl of my dreams, she laughed at me when I mustered up the courage to ask her to the dance. I can't take it anymore. Everyone's gotta die…"

Wow. I'll bet I'm on the mark with this one. And I have good reason to be, but we'll cover that in a second. Kids are so disturbed these days, which strikes me as odd. There seem to be so many medications floating around to curb these hormonal rampages. Rittlin, Wellabutrin, all those fun things. Still, violence keeps creeping up like some nasty cough that won't go away.

I can empathize in a way with the shooters. I'm sure that deep down we went through some of the same tortures. I had girls I dreamed of show me how insignificant I was in their lives. I was beset by antagonistic jocks and rednecks, looking to prove themselves by ridiculing the quiet guy with glasses. I had a somewhat dysfunctional family, although I've never considered that a crutch to lean on. And I was so shy - a trait I have kept to this day. Well, it's not really shyness, it's a reluctance to speak unless I feel something needs to be said. Once I get to know and like you, I'll run my mouth, but those are special cases.

I know, saying I can relate to the shooters sounds bad, but hear me out. There was a time in high school when I thought about killing everyone in my school. Yes, if I had gone to school in the days of Columbine, I would have been expelled, because the word did leak out. But was I ever genuinely serious? No, I don't believe so. I've always been the non-violent type. But I was so full of hate and venom at the time, it's worrisome.

And I can't even say why my emotions got that way. Part of it was a joke, a sick joke. Some teacher had really pissed me off, one of those teachers who's idea of instruction involved a condescending attitude and copious amounts of verbal abuse. Even then, I was a writer. I could escape with my short, unfinished pieces of fiction, and they were entertaining to the friends I had. So I began to write a piece in which I wigged out and killed the teacher, a la horror movie style. Then I took out one of my classmates that I couldn't stand. And so the plans for the story continued, pitting me up against a variety of classmates, even ones I liked. I might as well give my friends props in the story, and hey, why leave anyone out at this point? So it was a big joke. I was signing people's yearbooks and putting Victim numbers by their names. I was a sick puppy at the time.

But these kids today, I don't think they have any sense of consequence. Sure, they're gonna make these people pay for all the suffering they've endured. But taking a gun and killing people? It just saddens me. And honestly, I consider kids like that to be weaklings. Just like I consider people who commit suicide weak. What? Life threw you a curve ball and you just couldn't take any more? So you feel that your only solution is to kill people around you or to kill yourself? That's pathetic.

See, I endured a lot of things, and when you get older you'll realize that all of those monumental problems are just trivial. They may shape you some, but they don't ruin your life. Hell, I believe that the strength I have now is due to the experiences of my youth, good and bad. You know, that whole 'if it does not kill me it only makes me stronger' deal? But these kids, they're just weak. And I wonder if that's due to all of the coddling and lack of real parenting we see these days. Maybe if you punished your kids some more, they'd understand that not everything goes their way. Maybe they could be better prepared for the rough times. Maybe they wouldn't believe the only way they'll go to the prom is if they can take Marie and a couple of friends with them to the semi-formal in Hell.

So I wonder if they even have fistfights at school anymore. No guns. No knives. Just a good tussle where you might even shake hands a day or two afterwards. All of the kids would meet out where the prearranged fight was to happen, all eager to see a good bit of simple violence. I don't exactly call those the glory days, but given the current climate, I really miss those days.