THERE is a disturbing, self-indulgent trend creeping into our schools. What used to feel like terrible news from foreign headlines has now bled into our own high schools. In recent months, the Philippines has faced an appalling wave of violence, from Tacloban to Zamboanga, and now in the hallways of Banga National High School in South Cotabato.
Whenever a young person picks up a gun, points it at their classmates, and pulls the trigger, the same old cycle begins. Analysts search through mysterious online forums, social media accounts, and quiet profiles, asking what his motive was, whether he was bullied, lonely, or brainwashed online.
We spend so much time obsessing over the killer's state of mind, as if there is some deep secret to unravel. But focusing on the gunman's feelings plays right into his hands. It gives him exactly what he wanted by turning his private troubles into everyone else’s nightmare. Strip away all the complex psychological theories, and what’s left isn’t a mystery, but an act of total, horrific vanity.
Look at it from the eyes of the victims' parents. These are the mothers and fathers who sent their 14-year-olds to school with packed lunches and neatly pressed uniforms, only to bring them home in body bags. From the doorway of a child’s empty bedroom, the killer's reasons don't matter at all. Whether he was driven by hatred, attention-seeking, or pure malice, the act itself is clear. It is the absolute peak of selfishness.
To pull off a school shooting is to decide that your own rage, sadness, or frustration is worth more than the lives of everyone else in the room. It means believing that because your life feels dark, you have the right to erase the bright futures of teenagers who were just sitting at their desks, hoping to graduate, fall in love, help their families, or just walk home after class.
The children in South Cotabato were not characters in a movie or a game. They were real kids with names, voices, and entire lifetimes ahead of them. In a split second, one person decided his desire for control or notoriety mattered more than their right to grow up. He stole their lives just to write a final, pathetic sentence about himself.
We need to stop treating these shooters like complicated puzzles to be solved. They aren't tragic antiheroes, but cowards throwing lethal tantrums.
To the dark web forums, online groups, and sick communities that farm these vulnerable kids and push them toward violence, I hope karma catches up with you and completely destroys you. May every piece of poison you feed into young minds come crashing back down on your own heads.
As for the shooter, look at what you’ve done. How could you so easily comprehend killing innocent people who held so much potential for the world? You took away someone's brother or sister. You forced families into a lifetime of untimely grief all because of your utter recklessness and cruelty.
Struggles, pain, and mental health battles are real, and no one should suffer through them alone. But the moment you cross the line into taking innocent lives, there is no justification left to stand on. Your pain does not grant you permission to destroy others, and I cannot offer sympathy to anyone who chooses a path of violence. If my words could reach you, I hope you are held fully accountable for the immense suffering you have caused, both in this life and whatever lies beyond.
To anyone out there who is quietly suffering, feeling lost, or harboring these dark thoughts, please seek help, but ayaw na mo’g pandamay. Do not drag innocent people into your storm. Your struggles deserve care and attention, but taking innocent children down with you will never solve your pain.
Finally, to our government, let this be the last time. It is long past time to step up and actually do your job. Gun control, school safety, and tackling online radicalization cannot remain empty promises written on press releases. We cannot afford to lose another innocent student to another stray or deliberate bullet. No child should ever feel terrified inside what ought to be their safest haven. Fix this before another classroom becomes a crime scene.
- IAMaQuill
Editor’s note: iAMaQuill is the pen name of the contributor, a senior high school student who wished to keep writing under his pen name, as he wished.
