About twenty years ago, two outstanding young men, sons of fine families, were carjacked by two young thugs, thrown in their trunk, and pushed into Austin's Town Lake to drown. A horrible crime that shocked the community. About two weeks ago, an outstanding young female UT dance student was brutally murdered by a young troubled homeless boy, almost her same age.

At the time of the young men's drowning murder, I'd been working with public education and children's issues for several years. Through programs such as Communities In Schools and Partners In Education, I'd come to appreciate the tremendous challenges of bringing equal opportunities and support to children from all walks of life. Most kids start out equal, but life and circumstances deal out different hands, and some kids have the deck stacked against them.

I was a reading tutor in a poor minority elementary school for four years. An eye/heart opener for sure. A large number of students came from dysfunctional homes. Parents in prison, or in and out of jail. Addictions, loud music after work, poor study conditions. Many adults who didn't value education. Many kids abused or neglected by family members. Inadequate response from such as Child Protective Services and the Foster Care Systems. We know that many outstanding students and leaders have overcome these challenges. But, we also know that these environments can possibly spawn future predators who could prey on the society that failed them.

When the young men were drowned, I remember thinking of the many families who were escaping the public schools, enrolling their kids in private schools and moving to the suburbs and gated communities. I remembered the Sun City retirees who protested paying school taxes and supporting bond issues because,"We no longer have kids in school. Why should we still pay?" I thought of this major disconnect from a huge number of good folks, privileged folks who can't connect the dots. So, too with the young man who took the life and promise from this lovely UT student. There were many family and community members who knew of, or could have predicted his trajectory. He also was a victim at many levels.

These are painful, but very real reminders that we can't perfectly insulate ourselves from the negative elements of society. So it's in our enlightened self interest to do what we can to support the public schools, local and state agencies and social safety net organizations that can moderate these extremes. We can model our better angels through compassion and collaboration as we deal with the constant challenges of constructive community building. The Mosey principles of "Slow down. Pay attention. Be informed and Make a difference." can guide us as we work with other community leaders to address these issues. We have to have responsive government programs working in collaboration with committed non-profits and educators to make the difference. Let's do it.

MOSEY ACTION STEPS

We're learning of tremendous deficiencies in the Texas Child Protective Service and Foster care programs. And it's obvious that many school counselors are not working well with law enforcement and mental health advocates to identify and provide options for troubled youth before they act out violently in society. We can't save them all, but we see too many examples of blatantly obvious potential behavior problems being willfully ignored or dismissed. We know we can and must do better.