When Isabelle Robinson first met Nikolas Cruz, she knew there was something about him that just wasnโt right.
In fact, their first meeting was actually an attack that left Isabelle hurt. She described how he harmed her and then showed no remorse for his actions.
โThe force of the blow knocked the wind out of my 90-pound body; tears stung my eyes. I turned around and saw him, smirking.
โI had never seen this boy before, but I would never forget his face. His eyes were lit up with a sick, twisted joy as he watched me cry.โ
She didnโt want to be around him anymore, and she got nervous when their paths would cross.
Still, she found herself tutoring him in school. She was never comfortable being alone with him. She said that despite of her intuition, she tried to be nice to him. She thought that maybe he just needed a friend and that if he saw people could be kind, he would change his ways and be kind, too.
Unfortunately, she was wrong.
She added:
โDespite my discomfort, I sat down with him, alone. I was forced to endure his cursing me out and ogling my chest until the hourlong session ended. When I was done, I felt a surge of pride for having organized his binder and helped him with his homework.โ
Cruz would go on to kill 17 of Isabelleโs friends in a mass shooting. Isabelle didnโt necessarily see it coming, but she knew that if anyone in the school were to do such a thing, it would be him.
Thinking about her interactions with him leading up to the shooting hasnโt been easy for her. She said:
โLooking back, I am horrified. I now understand that I was left, unassisted, with a student who had a known history of rage and brutality.โ
Isabelle said that the reason she agreed to help Cruz was because she felt a certain obligation to help him and be kind to him and because she knew her teachers expected her to help him.
She explained:
โI would have done almost anything to win the approval of my teachers.โ
Since the shooting, a lot of people have been suggesting that more students reach out to kids who are shy, seem to have some emotional problems, or may be considered โoddโ or different. They suggest that being kind to these kids could stop school shootings.
Isabelle says that she is proof that this isnโt true and that children shouldnโt feel responsible for preventing school shootings.
She said:
โIt is not the obligation of children to befriend classmates who have demonstrated aggressive, unpredictable, or violent tendencies. It is the responsibility of the school administration and guidance department to seek out those students and get them the help that they need, even if it is extremely specialized attention that cannot be provided at the same institution.โ
Isabelle does believe that kindness goes a long way.
She suggests that telling kids to be nice to kids who may feel like they are being left out can help with a lot of problems, like bullying.
However, she, like many others, believes that it is ultimately dependent on new laws and regulations to stop shootings. In the end, it shouldnโt be up to students to worry about whether a person in their school is going to shoot them because they got picked last for the kickball teams in gym class that day. Students should go to school knowing that they will get to study and learn in a safe place.
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Source: Upworthy
