"What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dog tails,
That's what little boys are made of."
This stanza from a longer poem attributed to Robert Southey is stuck in my memory.
I thought of it 10 days ago when the grim news broke of 6-year-old Jacob Hall's death from a gunshot wound sustained on his school playground in Townville, S.C. A 14-year old boy is accused killing his father before driving to Jacob's school. Once there, he opened fire on a class heading for recess. A teacher and another student sustained injuries from which will recover. Critically wounded, Jacob succumbed in the hospital.
Pictures of Jacob show a broadly-smiling, bespectacled boy, described by family and friends as loving, energetic and fascinated by superheroes.
The gunman, whose identity and possible motive are blocked because he is a juvenile, not only robbed Jacob's family of his joyful presence in their lives, he stole from Jacob the 75 years of life that could have unfolded for him.
Rather than add Jacob's name to the growing list of children who are murdered in school shootings and subsequently forgotten beyond their home communities, let us imagine a life for him.
A cheerful boy, Jacob loved science best out of all his academic subjects. He collected insects and spiders. After school, he roamed nearby woods with his friends, sometimes climbing trees or skipping pebbles across a nearby creek. He liked riding places with his father on weekends. Sometimes they went fishing.
In middle school, he found pleasure in running, a love that led him to track and cross country in high school.
Uncertain about future plans, Jacob enlisted in the Army following high school graduation, serving four years before his honorable discharge. He enrolled at Clemson University, using his military benefits to finance his education. With a degree in agriculture, he began farming a piece of property owned by his family.
Marriage, a family of his own and the challenge of building a successful soya bean and corn operation brought a deep and abiding satisfaction to his adult years. The joy captured in boyhood photographs never deserted him.
This could be the life denied this little boy.
While the horrors of mass murders at Columbine High School and Sandy Hook Elementary captured national attention, other shootings in which one or a few students are killed or injured receive fleeting concern. The long-term sorrow and anguish are limited to the families and communities where the tragedies occur. While fatalities are physical injuries categorized in databases, emotional wounds endure and may never heal.
What can you and I do to reduce such calamities?
Violence against schoolchildren must be addressed as a smoldering, national epidemic. We need access to psychological profiles of shooters so we may search for common denominators that might identify potential assailants before they turn to violence. Too often this information is sequestered beyond the reach of analysts. Insights gained from this material might better prepare teachers, counselors and social services to deal with troubled children.
Classroom exercises that address bullying, often a precursor to later violent outbursts, should be a regular component of the curriculum for all grades. Similar attention should be paid to instruction in mindfulness - the process of pausing, analyzing and considering consequences before responding to a stressful situation.
Securing weapons within the home must be emphasized to parents and guardians. Especially if children are home alone, guns must be secured in locked cabinets to which the children have no access.
The alternative to addressing school violence systematically is to convert every school into an armed camp surrounded by high walls and patrolled by guards.
A wealth of information on violence by and against children can be found at www.cdc.gov/eviolenceprevention/youthviolence.
Contact Clif Cleaveland at ccleaveland@timesfreepress.com.