Focus on What is Important

By now everyone has heard about the teenager in Wisconsin who held a group of classmates hostage at gun point for about six hours. The boy then shot himself, it goes without saying that this child was deeply troubled. I would like to encourage folks to pray for this young man and his family. The news reported that he had two handguns, of course the anti-gun rights folks are going to raise an alarm, and call for tougher gun control laws or outright bans on handguns. The problem that these folks close their eyes to is that the young man at 15 years of age, had to steal these guns and any type of gun control or ban would have made no difference at all.
The real cry should be, what signs were missed and how could the school or parents prevented this? Intervention should be more than a television show. The holiday season comes with tons of stress for adults and for school students there are added items of stress. Whether adults want to admit it or not, teens share many of the adult stress factors, then you must add in the exams, senior projects, and peer group pressure.
Most teens find ways to deal with these stress items through friends, activities, attitude, hard work, some use drugs and or alcohol abuse, there are constructive relievers and destructive relievers. The job as adults is to help teens find a constructive reliever. 
What are some of  the signs we need to be aware of? Good question, glad you ask.
Teens and children that are normally outgoing and chatty, may become quiet and withdrawn....time to ask questions.
The child who was always compliant and obeyed, becomes defensive and defiant and maybe augmentative.
The circle of friends changes.
The open child becomes very reserved and secretive.
Do you notice a change in your child's demeanor or attitude, start by asking questions and then seek help.
We can start by teaching our children how too deal with stress problems, we can make our children aware that the stress will come and go. What is the greatest stress reliever?
Try prayer and faith, I have found that these two items are the greatest stress relief ever. Jesus said His yoke was easy and well fitted, and His brother James encourages us to cast our cares on Jesus, because He cares for us.I can tell you from a life of experience that these two items work and do so well.
We need to focus on what is important, why teens find the need to act with violent behavior and or self destructive. How to really understand what is going on the lives of young people and how to do an intervention that works.
Gun control and bans will do nothing to fix the problem, that is a non-important side bar.
We need to focus on what is important.