The Colorado high school massacre was bound to be a reactionary media feeding frenzy and, as usual, big business did not disappoint. That very day, even Bill Mahr (Politically Incorrect-ABC), was screaming for gun control, proclaiming this tragedy "a message from God" and calling the event "ironic" in view of an upcoming NRA meeting in Denver. (Were these boys card-carrying NRA members?)

Once again, the media's discourse is soooooo predictable: ban guns, drugs, violent movies (except news footage), internet access, black clothing and "goth" records. (I wonder, during a search, can dogs distinguish between Marilyn Manson and Mozart?)

I've yet to hear or see one reporter asking the most important question of all: "Prior to the massacre, what measures had been taken to help the children who committed the murders...what drove these kids to so violently 'snap'? How did things go so far?"

I am not saying the boys themselves are not accountable. Only one finger pulls the trigger on a gun. But there are numerous reports that the boys were repeatedly victimized by peers--perhaps provoking them to, in their distorted minds, turn the dynamic around. Since these kids reportedly made no waves, school staff apparently never asked them about their penchant for death and why they continuously drew swastikas on themselves. (Is there enough staff at this school to take time out to ask? Probably not.) And what of the parents? Did they ever have a heart-to-heart about their boys'obsession with Hitler, bombs and death? Where and when did the boys make the bombs and store their arsenals? Did school personnel and parents ever talk to each other about the impact of the ongoing ridicule and other concerns? Did these boys have anyone else to talk to, except for themselves?

One of the teachers interviewed by a TV reporter was incredulous that such violence could occur at her school. "I always thought this sort of thing happened somewhere else," she said. Now, no one in America can ignore this wake-up call.

But sadly, signs of reactionary, short-term solutions abound: Line these kids up and search every last one. Collect their urine, blood, hair, fingerprints; track their Net searches, record their telephone conversations; lock them up. As a former public school teacher, I can tell you, there are a lot of similarities between schools and prisons. And prisoners often rebel.

By all appearances, Littleton, Colorado is a white picket fence- sort of town. And after the last news van hits the road, life there, and elsewhere in America, will go on. Children will continue to be ignored and discredited by the adults in their lives, who will choose to turn a blind eye to all that is unpleasant--such as problems at school--unless it involves dollar amounts. Victimizing people will still be accepted as normal, and for the winners in our society, a sort of birthright. Anything, or anybody, viewed as "different" will be ostracized. We will continue to feed on a steady diet of violence and glorify war. And troubled kids will continue to suffer in silence, products of a culture that does not value the feelings and perceptions of its children and chooses to ignore the realities of today's playground.

It's been said that schools are microcosms of society and they are. >From what I've experienced during my seven years in public schools, this sort of thing is, unfortunately, bound to happen again -- just not in your home town.