Proper teaching could change hearts, save lives

LESLIE CRISS, Daily Journal
3/2/2008 10:06:19 AM


Hatred ever kills, love never dies. Such is the vast difference between the two. What is obtained by love is retained for all time. What is obtained by hatred proves a burden in reality for it increases hatred."
- Mohandas K. Gandhi


Two days before Valentine's Day, Lawrence King was shot in the head.

The day after Valentine's Day he was taken off life support and died.

He was 15 years old. An eighth-grader at E.O. Green School in Oxnard, Calif.

He was comfortable, at an early age, being himself, which included being gay.

He had lots of friends. There were also some who developed a great disdain for him because he was different.

"You've got to be taught to hate and fear, you've got to be taught from year to year;
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear; you've got to be carefully taught."

Brandon McInerney had been noticed bullying Lawrence on occasion. Brandon was a classmate. He's 14.

And on February 12, shortly after the bells had summoned students to school, Brandon walked into a classroom, pulled out a gun and fired a shot into Lawrence's head.

Some say he'll be tried as an adult. That could mean he'll spend the next half century in prison.

Some say he's the second victim in this tragedy - a victim of homophobia and hatred.

I guess I'd have to agree.

"You've got to be taught to be afraid of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade, You've got to be carefully taught."

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