Little Johnny throws a backpack over his shoulders and shoves a gun in his pants.
In his mind, now he's ready for school and the dangerous walk back home.
This young man has no plans to shoot up the school. He sees the gun as his only protection from those wishing to do him harm.
I'm no criminologist, but it seems to me the main reason there are headlines like "Sixth gunshot victim in three days in Blytheville" is a lack of conflict-resolution skills.
Resolving conflicts with deadly weapons has become a way of life for some, who often, unfathomably, are allowed to become second- and third-time offenders.
The way to reason with one another is brandishing a gun and squeezing the trigger, rather than hashing out their differences verbally.
Somehow the culture must change; the shootings and violence can't continue.
For those who think it only affects a few thugs, consider that crime is a driving force in population decline and stunts population growth.
Everyone has a stake in the city being as safe as possible.
Right now, Blytheville isn't.
In fact, according to statistics, there were 42 aggravated assaults, or assaults with a weapon in 2011 and 127 third-degree battery incidents last year.
Compounding the problem is an understaffed police department, which seems to be stretched thinner and thinner each year because of budget issues.
The department hasn't reached the budgeted amount of officers in several years.
I'm sure the city's inability to pay the jail fees plays a role to some degree as well.
Maybe that is in the back of someone's mind when it's time to incarcerate the criminal, before or during judgment.
Still, it takes more than officers and the court to curb violence.
Local organizations are trying to show young people there is a better way. Healing in the Hood is reaching at-risk kids, and God's Holy Temple holds "Stop the Violence" events, for example.
But more must be done.
Churches, schools and organizations like Healing in the Hood all have key roles in reaching the reachable before it is too late.
So do individuals when opportunities present themselves.
Somehow mindsets must change, whether it be through churches joining forces to reach the young men and women on a spiritual level and through prayer; schools incorporating nonviolence lessons into the curriculum; or the average Joe acting on a need he sees.
The challenge is getting kids to realize at an early age that violence doesn't solve problems, it creates them.
Life is not a video game. The shooter can't push reset.
One way or another, once he or she pulls the trigger, their lives and the victims' lives are changed forever.
Fortunately, none of the six recent shootings ended in death.
But any one of them could have.
There has to be a proactive approach to stopping the acts of violence, rather than the current reactive one.
Hopefully, caring citizens smarter and more creative than me can come up with a program(s) to educate young people of the consequences of those actions and help instill values into them. Clearly, those efforts are not being made on the family level.
In fact, for some, crime is generational, seemingly passed down from parent to child.
Somehow, the trend must end if this city is ever to reach its potential.
mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com