30 Nov, 2006
Students expelled after fight planned on MySpace
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — A dozen high school students were expelled for an on-campus brawl over who got invited to a party, a fight school officials said was arranged on the social-networking hub MySpace.com.
The school board in this St. Louis suburb voted unanimously Monday to expel the Edwardsville High School students through the end of the school year for the Nov. 9 melee. Three were seniors who were barred from graduation ceremonies next spring, Superintendent Ed Hightower said Tuesday.
No one was seriously injured in the fight involving 11 girls and one boy.
Two groups of students had been squabbling for a month about who had been invited to the party, and administrators had been working with them and their parents to avoid a conflict, Hightower said.
Seven students agreed in writing Nov. 6 to stop "disrespecting'' each other, keep to themselves and report problems to adults. The students were told they faced police involvement or "exclusion'' from the school if they broke the pact.
Just two days later, Hightower said, students posted MySpace messages finalizing plans to fight the next day. The fight ensued as planned in the high school's commons area, Hightower said.
"There were numerous interventions, numerous opportunities for these students to resolve their differences,'' but they chose to fight instead, Hightower said.
MySpace is grappling with ways to curb the use of the site for such purposes, distributing a guide for school administrators and "letting them know that anything that can happen on a school playground also can happen online,'' said MySpace's chief security officer, Hemanshu Nigam.
picture courtesy images.google.com & story startribune.com, 11/29/06
Passions become fights!
Have you thought about the cause of quarrels and fights?
What does today's God's Story teach us about the reason for quarrels and fights?
Perhaps James should have logged on to MySpace with the kids in that high school, where the online quarreling turned into an over the line fight.
James is writing today's scripture to followers of Christ. He makes it real simple. Quarrels between believers are always harmful and come from the evil desires within us.
There were lots of evil desires being expressed at the high school in Illinois. Students were letting their passions go wild on guarding their "space" and who would get into their "space".
We often let our self-centered passions go wild, don't we? When we focus on worldly values like possessions, money, status, power and popularity, we develop an attitude that anything but Christ-like.
Then we drag these attitudes into our friendships, families and churches. When we don't get our way, we quarrel and fight. Even if we don't plan a physical fight, we often throw hurtful comments and display actions that are just as crazy!
So what do we do? James says we need to pray with the right motives. Rather than selfishly reaching for what we want, we must reach out to each other with Godly attitudes and actions. This will happen when we surrender our way to God's way and trust Him to give us what we really need.
Abiding in Christ means we focus on Him, face to face. This will result in a passion for Jesus and compassion for others.
How can we connect today's scripture to our lives?
- Talk to God right now. Confess any part you have had in a quarrel or conflict with another person. Ask God to give you the humility and courage you need to go to that person and ask for forgiveness. Ask God to help you surrender your passions to His desires for you. Thank Him for empowering you to do your part to get along with His family and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ.
- Pray every day for God to help you focus on His plan for you rather than your plan for pleasures. Then YourSpace will give way to Jesus.
How can we connect today's story, God's Story and our stories to others?
- If you've been "fighting" with someone in your youth group, church, school, work place, or family - take the first step to make the relationship right again. Remember that it's better to do this face to face rather than online.
- Rather than using MySpace, consider learning the stories of others and sharing your story by using the My Story and Tell Your Story sections of 3Story.org.
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