Parents Who Sought the Greater Good

The parents of 18-year old, Ryan Schallenberger deserve our prayers and gratitude. Ryan is the straight "A" student in Chesterfield, South Carolina (northeast) who was arrested for allegedly planning to bomb his high school. His parents called authorities Saturday, after they discovered their son had ordered 10 lbs., of ammonium nitrate through the Internet. People make bombs with ammonium nitrate. According to news reports the U.S. attorney is planning to charge the student with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a possible life sentence. Additional federal charges are expected to be brought against the teenager, who they believe was plotting the bombing for several months. Police report that they found a "hate-filled journal" the teen had written offering praise for the Columbine killers.

The AP story praises the parents but also raises concerns about the lack of response from professionals in their attempts to seek help for Ryan before discovering the ammonium nitrate order:

"We applaud these parents and we're very thankful they chose to be concerned and they chose to get involved. We feel like they saved a lot of life in our county," Chesterfield County Sheriff Sam Parker said Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Schallenberger's parents had sought help from mental health experts even earlier in the week when he slammed his head into a wall, but the clinic offered no help, authorities said Monday. His parents took him to a hospital but he was not badly injured, said prosecutor Jay Hodge.

Schallenberger was charged with making a bomb threat and was to be charged Tuesday with possession of bomb-making material, Hodge said. The prosecutor said he would request at a bail hearing Tuesday that the teen undergo a mental health evaluation.

Education, mental health and community officials constantly counsel parents, educators, clergy, healthcare professionals and parents to be on the alert for possible warning signs of a kid who is troubled, or headed in the wrong direction. Too often parents are in complete denial and no one discovers there is a serious problem until it's too late as was the case of Columbine and last year's Virginia Tech campus shootings, just to name two of many examples. However, in this case we need to thank these parents for genuinely seeking to get help for their son and the seriousness with which they treated the discovery of the explosive ingredients. Ryan's mother and stepfather, John and Laurie Sittley, deserve our prayers. They are undoubtedly heartbroken. Who wouldn't be? Ryan also deserves our prayers and even more so, if these allegations are in fact true.

I cannot imagine the pain, guilt, and sadness this couple must feel right now, but I only hope they can find some comfort in the fact that they may have at worse, saved countless young lives from another unspeakable tragedy, and minimally gotten help their son appears to so desperately need. I pray their community will embrace them with loving, non-judging arms for doing the right thing.

Parents, educators, youth leaders, friends of students and others connected to teens, please take a cue from the Sittley's courageous act. This is responsible parenting! I would rather someone be completely off base about a potential act of devastating violence, than to stand beside the hospital beds, or gravesides of potential victims lamenting, "If we had only known."

This should be a wake-up call to anyone (parents, coaches, teachers, etc.,) who relate to children and teenagers in any capacity. They need our love, encouragement, and listening ears. They also need us to be responsible and objective so one day they will be able to do the same with their own children and succeeding generations.