Next time you look at the sports pages, take note of the faces of the children that compete in the variety of middle and high school sports.

When you read the education section, take note of the faces of the children who have won awards, created art, attended an event important to them — all the things children do.

Be aware that when you look at their faces, you may be looking at the faces of future targets — targets of a school shooting, a drive-by shooting, an argument that ends up being settled by a gun, or a suicide. Isn’t it time we did something about guns? Isn’t it time we did something about mental health?

— Roger Hull

China Grove