The constant harassment and taunts make Brendan furious and leave Gary feeling like a loser. Unless we change the way we treat others in school and out, there will only be more - and more horrible - tragedies.Ĭopyright © 2000 by Todd Strasser Reading Group Guideīrendan Lawlor and Gary Searle get more and more tired of being bullied by the jocks at their high school. Violence comes in many forms - guns, fists, and words of hate and contempt. It is a story of heartbreak and fear and regret. It is told in many voices, in words far more eloquent and raw than any I could have thought of on my own.

This, then, is the story of what I learned. What happened in Middletown is in plain print. The quotes and facts from other incidents are in a different-style print. The other is the broader tale of what is happening all around our country - in a world of schools and guns and violence that has forever changed the place I once called home. One is about what happened here in Middletown. The story you are about to read is really two stories. In addition I studied everything I could find on the many similar incidents that have occurred in other schools around our country in the past thirty years. I spoke to everyone who would speak to me. For others, I suspect it was because they had learned something about themselves that they were still struggling to accept - or to conceal. Some refused to speak because it must have been too painful. As if speaking about it was a way of trying to figure it out, of beginning the long, painful process of grieving and moving ahead. Some even sought me out because they wanted to talk. Others spoke because they felt a need to defend themselves even though no one had pointed an accusing finger at them.

For weeks I staggered through it, searching out other lost, wandering souls. Returning to Middletown was like stepping into a thick fog of bewilderment, fury, agony, and despair.

As soon as I heard the news, I went home to Middletown, determined not to leave until I understood what had happened there. One doctor described it to me as 'an earthquake in the head.'Īt the moment of Gary's death I was in the library at the state university, where I was a sophomore studying journalism. The parts of the brain that control breathing and heartbeat stop. In the seconds that follow, the brain swells with blood and other fluids. Not only does a bullet destroy whatever brain tissue is in its path, but the shock waves from the impact severely jar the entire organ, ripping apart millions of delicate structures and connections. The brain is a fragile organ suspended in a liquid environment. After the bullet smashed through the left side of his skull and tore into his brain, he probably lived for ten to fifteen seconds. on Friday, February 27, Gary Searle died in the gymnasium at Middletown High School.

Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser