NIU tragedy leaves scar on our soul

My husband Tom and I are both NIU grads. It's where we met. The scenes that we watched on TV are of places we have walked many times.

In addition, the school where I teach is involved in a promotion known as "No Excuses University." That means we believe every child can and should go to college.

My classroom has a partnership with Northern. Our school's art teacher and I took my 26 fourth-graders on a tour of the campus of NIU last September.

This tragedy has really rocked me. As a parent of four former college students, and the mother of two current high school teachers, I am horrified that our schools have become places of peril.

What are we doing as a society that we are producing children who are so damaged that they see violence against strangers as an appropriate way to express personal pain?

Five sets of parents have lost what is most precious to them -- their beloved children. And why?

Because they were in college and were going to class!

How many more individuals will commit such heinous, cowardly acts because it is becoming commonplace.?

I simply cannot believe the founding fathers intended the Second Amendment to spawn such evil in our country. When will we act on the proliferation of guns that is wreaking havoc on our most precious natural resource -- our innocent children?

I have been crying for weeks, crying and praying. I feel there is a scar on the soul of this country and that it is an outrage if we allow it to continue.

Mary J. Bostrand | Schaumburg