19/09/2026
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ | ๐๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐, ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ญ๐๐
A school is supposed to be a place where dreams learn to take shape. It is where young minds gather beneath the same roof, carrying unfinished homework, quiet ambitions, friendships, and futures they have not yet imagined. The hallway that is usually filled with footsteps, teasing and playful banter. Classrooms that echo with laughter, questions, and the occasional reprimand from a teacher.
But what happens when these familiar sounds are replaced by gunfire?
Once a sanctuary of young hopes, became a place of fear and mourning. Desks that once held notebooks became silent reminders of lives suddenly interrupted. The hallway that carried footsteps now carried questions and fear. The campus that once upheld unity became a ground for apprehension.
We may ask, why did it happen?
Perhaps the answer cannot be found in a single game, a screen, a person, or a moment. Violence is rarely born from one cause. Sometimes, it grows quietly through pain, isolation, anger, influence, and wounds left unnoticed.
It may be that behind every act of violence is a silence that once begged to be heard. A cry hidden beneath laughter, a wound covered behind a screen, or a struggle dismissed as nothing more than a phase.
To be heard is one of the most significant things a person longs for. Violence knows no age; it can take root when anger, pain, and resentment are left unattended. Yet, violence is not something we are destined to inherit, it is something we must learn to recognize, prevent, and ultimately unlearn.
Thus, beyond every explanation, crime can never be justified. We may seek to understand the pain, circumstances, or influences that lead someone toward violence, but understanding is not the same as excusing someone from the crime that was committed.
Perhaps that is where the conversation should begin, not with blame, but with accountability. Because behind every act of violence are lives affected, families left grieving, and a community forced to carry questions that may never have simple answers.
Written by Keziah Sheen Carpio
Illustration by Lhenxiel Bugao
