a YES exchange student was killed at Santa Fe H.S. yesterday

[Marthe48]

The organization I volunteer for oversees the YES program. This young woman would have been returning home to Pakistan in less than a month, after a life-changing exchange experience.

I have met so many students since 1994, local and exchange students. Probably 2/3's of my FB friends are people I met because of AFS. Every time a school is attacked by terrorists, I am heartbroken. Because there is so much promise in each child and being murdered just as the promise is unfolding is devastating to the parents,the family, the community, our country and the world. I've volunteered for AFS since 1995 and the death of this young woman hurts to my heart.

We can't protect our kids from every single danger, but for God's sake, gun death is preventable. I imagine that next week, next month, there will be another mass killing that makes us weep. And makes us seek a solution. But as long as those leeches in power sit there, nothing will change.

Because of this young woman's death, there will likely be international waves. We don't have the national or international voice to repair the damage.

[bronxiteforever]

1. Kick and recommend for visibility.

[Marthe48]

4. TY

[Hav]

2. Really makes one worry

I have a young relative going on a 1-year school exchange to the US soon. These attacks with kids as the preferred target surely don't decrease the worry of parents.

[Marthe48]

5. No they don't

I hope by the time your young relative arrives, school will be safer.

Even with safety rules for host families and students, there is only one way that comes to mind to prevent this. And that way is blocked by bought and sold politicians.

[Sneederbunk]

3. Our service club sponsored an exchange student to Australia.

She should be out of harms way for a year.

[Marthe48]

6. great choice

I've met students from Australia and we had at least 1 student from our school exchange there. It is an amazing country.

[DFW]

7. This will pour some gasoline on the fire once it hits the Pakistani papers

Not that they like Trump's America too much in the first place, and Malala's treatment at the hands of fellow Pakistanis was not exactly exemplary anyway, but for this to happen to one of their citizens while at a supposedly safe place in America--the worst nightmare of every parent with a kid at an American school (including me while my girls were attending school in the USA, although the one in Dallas scared me a lot more than the one in Hawa'i)

[Marthe48]

8. The U.S. State Dept.

has a list of dangerous countries. I imagine other countries are going to put the U.S. on their lists. Aside from the permanent damage to American families and communities, the gun war on the streets of our country is destroying our country.

[DFW]

9. It is in the headlines here in Europe every time it happens in the USA

The inaction of the Republican-led Congress is mentioned in every article. LOTS of Europeans are having second thoughts about visiting the USA, especially those who are considering visiting for the first time. Even my wife, for the second year in a row now, is no longer staying with me after our summer vacation in Massachusetts. I have two more weeks of obligations around the country, but she is leaving from Boston right back for Germany.

[smirkymonkey]

10. What do the Europeans think every time they hear about these shootings in the US and our

government's reaction to them? Do they just think our gun culture and our politicians who protect it are insane? I would be interested to hear what the usual reaction is.

[DFW]

12. Most of them just assume the politicians are in the pockets of the arms industry

When mass insanity and public-unfriendly positions are taken by a majority of politicians in a country, the assumption is that corruption is the cause. I share that assumption with my European colleagues and friends (and wife).

[Marthe48]

11. I can't argue

and it seems like violence against innocents is on the rise in many countries.

Another way to control peoples' movements. As if it hadn't been hard enough already.

Hope you enjoy your travels and stay safe.

[DFW]

13. One ironic thing here in Europe

Unarmed violence and organized theft is epidemic here, and governments do virtually nothing about it, except to prosecute those who defend themselves with force. "Tolerance and understanding" of the "underprivileged social status" of the perpetrators has led to a reluctance by law enforcement to do anything about it. With that has come the very predictable rise in far-right movements and xenophobia.

Germany, with its Nazi past, is especially reluctant to be harsh on criminals, especially foreigners, with the result that the far-right and anti-immigrant AfD is getting two digit results in elections instead of the deserved fraction of a percent they deserve. Other countries, notably Belgium and Holland have other, very local reasons, but the result is the same. The "tolerance" lets violent criminals right back out on the street, often the same day they are caught, and their victims are easy prey for far right movements.

In the last elections here, the Social Democrats had a chance with their slogan "Mehr Gerechtigkeit," or "more justice," until they explained that all they meant was higher taxes. They scored their lowest post-war showing ever.