Barry, Yes we are all in this together and as a society must work towards creating and nurturing a climate that supports the growth and development of our children. As a society we have evidenced some glaring flaws in our efforts to do so. But no matter what insults or assualts an imperfect society unleashes on my children (and there are many - just turn on the TV), if they are at home making pipe bombs and sawing the barrels off shotguns - and I as a parent am unaware or fail to respond, then I as a parent own the lion's share of the blame.

I am a parent. I know the pressures and concerns of my children, I know who their friends are. I advocate for their wellbeing at every opportunity. If they have a bad day, I know about it. The parents of children who murder in the manner we all observed yesterday have failed miserably in their responsibility as parents. That is very sad but very true!

The difficulty with all of this is our very human tendency to assign blame as a starting and ending point. Better questions to explore are what can we do as parents, what can we do as educators, what can we do as citizens to keep our children safe. Frank

Sorry for rambling on.