David Pruitt, M.D.
President, AACAP

We all have touched our children a few more times in the weeks since Littleton. It was as if we were trying to say, "Despite what we see around us, we'll all be OK. The inexplicable will not touch us." Our children often seemed to be saying in return, "I think I'm OK. Don't worry, I would have figured out a way to be OK."

Whether we as a society have reached the "critical mass" in tolerating violence, or whether the seeming ordinariness of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold has struck a chord, the fears and concerns of parents everywhere were touched in a new and significant way. Middle class America has been unable to marginalize these teens. These kids weren't living in poverty or carrying long histories of abuse. Instead, they seemed to be just kids who were moving, like so many others, through the complex years of adolescence.

During the aftermath of the tragedy, I completed more than 20 radio, TV, newspaper, and magazine interviews. Many of our members had similar experiences. The questions were the same:

• "How do we prevent future events?"
• "What changes are necessary in our schools and society?"
• "What about the media? Movies, video games, TV?"
• "Are the parents to blame?"
• "How do we identify future shooters?"
• "What are the causes?"

And most poignantly, and simply, the most difficult question: "Why?" The public wants to understand. It is too early to determine the real impact of this tragedy, never mind the causes (which we may never fully understand). Despite this, there is much that we do know:

• There is no single cause or answer to explain such a horrible event.
• This event does represent a public health problem.
• There is a real need for risk and protective factors assessment.

There is a real need to clarify family, school, and community risks/protective factors in the context of individual vulnerability. For this issue of the DevelopMentor, we have asked Eugene Beresin, M.D., Steven Berkowitz, M.D., Clarice Kestenbaum, M.D., president-elect of the AACAP, and Lawrence Stone, M.D., past-president of the AACAP, to discuss their pioneering and innovative programs that deal with violence. These programs and many others like them will hopefully bring us to the better understanding of this phenomenon that is necessary if we are to deal with violence and its impact on children. Littleton is shared by all Americans. It is a shared vulnerability. It reminds us that to help our own children, we must help all children.