BOOK OF THE WEEK: "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult is an amazingly talented author who writes about tough topics that need to be discussed - one of her more known piece of works is My Sister's Keeper, which was made into an award-winning movie starring Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin. Nineteen Minutes takes us through the aftermath of a school shooting that devastated a fictional, small New Hampshire town and the events that ultimately led the protagonist, Peter Houghton's, decision. 

The character of Peter Houghton can be found in many high schools - an outcast and a kid who just didn't fit in. He wasn't an athlete, nor was he part of the popular group. Very similar to the character Tyler Down from 13 Reasons Why. 

Tyler was slightly different because he had an interest in photography and was the school's photographer that he could bury himself in, but both characters were kids who found it difficult to fit in. They were, both, relentlessly bullied by the more popular students and each had one particular moment that triggered their decisions - although Tyler's efforts where thwarted by a martyr-like character in Clay Jensen. 

Since Columbine we've seen more and more school shootings and mass shootings. As much as we want to grieve for the victims of what we deem a senseless act, we do owe it to society to have a a little bit of sympathy for the perpetrators. The likes of Peter Houghton's character are out there - Sandy Hook, Marjory Stoneman Douglas - and they too deserve empathy. 

Something happened to them in their past that led them to the actions they took. On the surface it may be small potatoes to you or I, but to them it was as if the world was crashing down. In Peter Houghton's case, it was the single event of being publicly embarrassed in the cafeteria by the popular athlete, Matt Royston. With Tyler Down, it was being violently beaten and violated by the school's bully that he thought there was no way out and things were never going to get any better. 

Not only are these kids teenagers, who haven't yet developed the full capacity to think through all scenarios and realize that this is not the end of the world, but the constant pressure of fitting in does not help the case. 

High school is hard. (Well from what I hear it's hard, my own experience I was so in my own little bubble that I really didn't care what the others were up to or what they thought.) It's easy to say everyone should think like this and not listen to others, but what we forget is that high school peers can have a huge influence on decisions. If they are going to play a big role in decisions, might as well make all those influences positive ones.