ANOTHER DAY OF HORROR has reverberated across the United States and the world. The location — Newtown, Conn. — was different from past instances, but the loss was the same. If I were a man prone to bet, I would wager it is not the last time the U.S., and other countries, will suffer this kind of tragedy.

Many have and will express their thoughts, feelings and emotions concerning this “day of horror,” like other similar days in history. This is my offering.

I know this will read like “soapbox time” from ex-teacher James M. Garrett, but I felt the need to write it. Not everyone will agree with everything written here, which is as it should be; freedom of speech means we all are accorded the right to express our opinions. However, from communicating with people in various ways over the years I know there are many who do agree with most of what I say here.

* * *

WE ARE INTERCONNECTED TO each other and to events in the world. No event like the shootings in Newtown can occur without being felt. We are each innocent and each guilty.

Our freedoms will destroy us as a nation if we as citizens in a democratic republic do not wake up. Yes, we have the right to bear arms. I am 100 percent for that right. But — and read very carefully here — while we should be able to purchase assault rifles, we should not do it!

I believe the National Rifle Association and other groups support the right to own those types of weapons because they feel legislating against one type of firearm opens the door for legislation against other types. I share that belief. However, it is illogical and, I believe, unethical for an “ordinary citizen” to own such weapons. It is a classic example of our freedoms being the basis of our downfall as a nation. Because a person can do something does not mean they should do it.

I was a high school teacher for almost 30 years and worked with young people in other capacities before that. I also served our country for four years in the military and was once a good shot. I believe I have a clue about some things in life.

“Society gets what society wants, by an act of omission or commission.” That’s a statement I often used in teaching and in life in general. It applies across the board, to all facets of society. If society wants more and better police, hospitals, mental health facilities, etc., it is up to society to establish them and insure they function properly.

None of us is society as a whole, but we are each part of society. None of us will ever get everything we want, nor should we. If you, the individual, act, you might get what you want; but if you do not act, chances are you will get something you do not want, and then complain about the results.

Not voting is the same as not caring. If you vote, win or lose, at least you have earned the right to complain and say, “Hey, at least I tried. What did you do?”

* * *

IT STARTS WITH THE CONCEPT, “Not in my house.” It proceeds to “Not on my block, not in my neighborhood, not in my town, not in my county, not in my state, not in my country.”

Yes, parents are the key. But it takes everyone to pay attention and take a stand.

A child at home, or a student in a school, cannot be allowed to repeatedly “get away with stuff.” I laugh when I hear a parent say, “He never does that at home.” Yes he does! That is where he learned to do it!

Children cannot be repeatedly “warned” for whatever infractions they commit. If a teacher writes a referral, then the administration must contact the parent. The fact the teacher wrote the referral means they have done all they could do and the situation needs to be moved to the next level. The teacher undoubtedly had spoken with, not at, the student more than once, and probably contacted the student’s counselor. The referral was the teacher’s “last straw.”

On a larger scale, in a community a teen cannot repeatedly be released to the custody of their parents after police involvement. That is like throwing gasoline on a fire. Things simply escalate when boundaries are not established in a home, school or community. There comes a point, after repeated police involvement, when other measures must be taken.

* * *

I AM TIRED OF REPEATEDLY reading and hearing, “There was no sign,” or “Nobody saw it coming” when a deranged, or supposedly deranged, person commits an act of horror. There are always signs if people observe well enough and long enough. For example: A child was not born prejudiced, someone taught the child. Another example: A child was taught the use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, etc. And: A child was taught the violence including bullying, assault, and murder.

Anyone who thinks movies, music, and video games do not help cause problems in society is simply not accepting reality.

I believe there is the occasional “bad seed,” just as there are those on the other end of the scale, “the best person ever.” Most of us are in the middle of the scale. Like the sinner and the saint, we are each affected by heredity and environment.

Any parent, teacher, counselor, administrator or anyone else who is caring can see when something is going wrong with a young person. Challenge the usage of the word “wrong” all you want, but that is what it is. “A rose is a rose, it ain’t no petunia.”

Sometimes what happens is demonstrated while a child is still a child. Sometimes it is demonstrated in middle school or high school. Sometimes it takes a little longer to manifest itself — but the problem can often be seen growing. At times there are warning signs that get brighter. When they become flashing red lights, it may be too late.

* * *

OF THE NEARLY 7,000 STUDENTS I worked with over the years, I know of at least nine who committed murder. No, I did not see that coming, nor could I do anything about the outcomes when they happened. But I did what I could when I felt something was “wrong” with some of those who later committed murder.

The person who commits a horrific crime did not wake up one morning and say, “I’m going to go out and kill a lot of people today.” They were involved in a progression of events before they got to the point where they committed the horrific act. Warning signs were there all along the way.

In the classroom, it is the teacher’s responsibility to insure there is no bullying. One of the nicest comments I received from a student came one day in class when he blurted out during a discussion, “We’re safe here.” Nobody was going to bully another student in my classroom. If a deranged gunman entered the room, nobody knows what would happen, but in that classroom, with those kids, I knew what would not happen.

Outside the classroom, it is still a teacher’s responsibility to confront and try to end bullying. It is also an administrator’s duty, which may mean assigning the bully to a specific location for the course of the school day while the cause of the bullying is confronted. Or it may mean the expulsion of the bully.

* * *

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF OUR FREEDOMS destroying us is a person’s right to smoke — anything. A person’s right to smoke anything ends where my nose begins.

But if the law grants freedom to smoke marijuana anywhere, in effect it grants the smoking of marijuana anywhere. It is simple logic. The distance and area will simply expand. People will do what people want to do. “Society gets what society wants …”

The use of illegal drugs must be fought on three levels: start, middle and end. Educate at the earliest years of awareness, continue education and initiate various levels of enforcement, and execute drug dealers. Draconian punishment is the only preventative against those who promote and sell illegal drugs. Those people do not care about society, meaning you and me. They care only about themselves, their wants and desires, and money. Anyone who thinks that helps society is missing the boat.

As a society, we already endorse the growing and use of a plant that has killed, and will kill, millions — tobacco. That is insanity enough. Go to the lung ward in the local hospital. It will open your eyes.

* * *

THERE IS A SIMPLE PHILOSOPHY that if you pull the first weed (no pun intended) you see in your yard, there is less chance weeds will take over your lawn. There is no guarantee, however, but at least that one weed has been removed from the gene pool. Yes, I believe in the death penalty for first-degree murder, rape, child molestation and incest.

Another example of dealing with that type of problem in society was that employed by the hypothetical horse rancher of the Old West. If he had a horse that could not be trained or broken for use around the ranch, and that repeatedly bit and kicked, he tried to sell it. If the rancher could not sell the horse, he shot it to keep it out of the gene pool. Hard, coarse, some might say cruel — but effective and good for that form of society. As a society, we must look out for the whole.

If we are truly a democratic republic, we must insure the rights of the guilty as well as the innocent. That is the only way it can work — or we do not have that democratic republic. If not, all we have is a dictatorship, or whatever other type of government that limits, ignores or oppresses the people.

* * *

ALMOST 50 YEARS AGO I was taught that anyone can be killed if there is enough thought, effort and dedication applied. Any weapon could be used, and anything is a weapon. I was taught, “Everyone eats, sleeps, drinks and goes to the bathroom. Not everyone has sex. If you remember those things you can kill anyone.”

I believe the death penalty is a deterrent to murder. First of all, I’ve repeatedly read that the average time served across the United States for first-degree murder is six to seven years. Some people will take the gamble of committing murder because they feel they can get away with it, they will be judged to be insane or they can “do the time.” But if a murderer is given one appeal and then executed if still found guilty, that person will no longer be capable of murdering someone else.

Think of the basic schoolyard situation or party where one person wants to hit another but does not do it. The basic reason they do not hit the other person is because they know they will get their butts beaten. They understand that is the “law.” Simply put, the person knows what will happen if they cross the line. As an example of the concept, Fonzie, on the old television program “Happy Days,” did not get into fights because of his reputation. Everyone knew of something in Fonzie’s past where he “took care of business,” so nobody “messed” with him.

It is not relatively expensive to execute a murderer. The cost comes with the extended number of appeals. If a jury of your peers, as per our form of legal jurisprudence, finds a person guilty, and that verdict is upheld after one appeal, that should be enough. Of course, mathematics will prove that at times an innocent will be executed, and there is sorrow in that.

From what I have read, it costs $70,000 to $100,000 or more per year to house murderers for life. I think a fair trial and one appeal is the only course to take. As some have stated, put the money into education, not prisons.

* * *

WHAT ISN’T NEEDED IS more firearm legislation. Nor would it be effective. Enough laws are present, but they need to be enforced across the board.

Calls for education make sense but education on the use, benefits and negatives of firearms will never be taught across the board in schools. It just will not happen, for a number of reasons. There are those who say school administrators and teachers should be allowed to carry concealed firearms to help ensure safety at schools. But a few courses at a firing range does not qualify someone to perform under the stress of an actual situation. They might hurt or kill someone — and it might be themselves! And can anyone reading this imagine some of the teachers and administrators YOU had during your education being allowed to carry a loaded firearm on campus?

Reality check!

* * *

HATE IS AND ALWAYS has been a precursor to horrific events — see the history of every continent with the exception of Antarctica. Do not rely on the basic school history texts. They are written the way they are on purpose for mass consumption.

What you’ll learn is that division fosters hate. And in America, we have plenty of division — some of it self-imposed. “Hyphenated-Americans” means “Divided-Americans,” regardless of heritage. It is a dividing factor for society. It should be “Americans.” The same applies to any religion, color, creed, ethnicity or anything else anyone wants to use.

If a citizen must be able to read, write and understand basic American-English to vote, there is no reason to have ballots, or traffic signs, printed in any other language. These things divide us as a society.

The United States of America is not a “melting pot,” as many have stated. Take a box of crayons, melt them together, and the result is one color. The United States is a “salad bowl” with different ingredients blended by the “dressing.” That “dressing” is the unifying fact of being “American.”

* * *

A SAYING WITH WHICH many Vietnam veterans are familiar is, “Sorry about that.” It stems from a mechanism for keeping emotions under control during bad circumstances. Individuals often get immune over time to repeated suffering. They care, empathize, offer help and sympathy, but after repeated horrific events they protect their minds the best they can by becoming “immune.”

I hope we, as a society, never become “immune.” We can change things, but it will take long-range courage and commitment. “Society gets what society wants, by an act of omission or commission.”

I felt the need to write this and offer it out there to anyone who might want to read it. You go your way and I will go mine.

James M. Garrett has lived in Benicia for more than 65 years. He retired after a career of teaching at Benicia High School. He is the author of “Benicia and Letters of Love” and “The Mansion Stories” and the compiler of “The Golden Era,” a history of Benicia High School football from the 1948 through 1960 seasons. Contact him at Jgstoriesnpoetry@aol.com.