Such a Tease

Trey Smith

It has an all too familiar ring. Someone takes a gun to a school and, when it's all over, people lay dead in the hallways and classroom. That was the scene yesterday at Oakland, California's Oikos University. Alleged gunman One Goh killed seven and injured three before turning himself in.

What led this fellow to do something like this? One of the underlying reasons is one we've heard before: teasing. Goh told police that fellow students had teased him.

In so many cases of school shootings in the past, the perpetrators of such crimes have cited bullying and teasing as the prime reasons for their actions. This rationale always causes me a reason to take pause.

Why?

Because I am a consummate teaser! I tease people all the time. It's part of my goofy personality. It's one of the ways I make people laugh and making people giggle and bend over in hysterical laughter is one of the great joys of my life.

Mind you, the kind of teasing I employ is what most people consider good-natured teasing. I tend to make fun of what people say (or how they say it) or little inadvertent things they do. I often make fun of myself as well to show that I mean no harm. In other words, I'm talking about silly stuff, not teasing people about intrinsic characteristics of their personality or appearance.

What worries me from time-to-time is my general inability to read others accurately. I would be saddened to learn that someone took my teasing personally, that someone felt I was purposely trying to be mean to them or embarrass them in front of others. And I would be absolutely devastated if my actions served as a precipitating factor in someone carrying out an act like the one Goh allegedly carried out.