On November 28, 2016 Ohio state student Abdul Razak Ali Artan drove his car into a group of pedestrians and went on to stab multiple other pedestrians with a butcher knife. This horrible incident brought up this topic: Are we as a society more preventative or reactive to violent crimes? Even though we have multiple mental health institutions in Canada, such facilities are not able to help everybody. On November 1, Gabriel Klein fatally stabbed Letisha Reimer, a 13 year old grade nine student at Abbotsford Senior Secondary School. Gabriel Klein was charged with second degree murder and aggravated assault. Abbottsford Police said that he was in a manic state when he was arrested, but is being sentenced as mentally fit in the court of law. Many wonder how these violent episodes happen.
A video titled Evan has been on social media a lot and shows how we are more reactive than preventative to violence. The video reveals many signs that show us that something might happen. We all need to be prepared and look at the bigger picture before something like this happens again. If you want an example of how oblivious we are watch the video Evan and you will realize how scary the direct signs are. For us to be able to start being more preventative rather than reactive, we need to start at the core of gun violence, especially in the United States, and conduct more research into people’s backgrounds and history. We need to learn more about our youth and the problems they face, and how some have harmful thoughts or have had harmful thoughts in the past.
With the recent stabbings in Abbottsford and Ohio, videos such as Evan teach us signs of troubled youth that people have been missing and that the lonely kid in the corner that most people will look over needs the same love and attention that everyone else craves for. Social media is one place to crack down on the signs of a possible event that might occur. Cracking down on all the mental abuse that the teen in the video Evan was going through could have prevented the attack. It all starts with one person passing it onto another, but instead of horrible rumors, why not change the ways of human society and start or join a movement for more funding or more support staff? With more and more people each day joining societal movements and organizations, hopefully, people like Abdul Razak Ali Artan and Gabriel Klein are given the help they need before more people are hurt.
