David Blair, a retired science teacher from Texas, watched helplessly along with the rest of the nation as seventeen were killed in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last week. Now, he has issued a brutal reality check to all of the anti-gun teens who are ditching school to protest gun violence.

“In light of the recent tragedy in Florida, walking out of school in protest of poor school security will not lead to a solution,” Blair wrote in a now-viral Facebook post. “First of all, put down your stupid phone. Look around you at your classmates. Do you see the kid over in the corner, alone? He could likely be our next shooter,” Blair warned.

“He needs a friend. He needs you. Go and talk to him, befriend him,” Blair urged. “Chances are, he won’t be easy to like, but it’s mainly because no one has tried to like him. Ask him about him. Get to know him. He’s just like you in that respect; he wants someone to recognize him as a fellow human being but few people have ever given him the chance. You can,” he continued.

“Next, see that kid eating lunch all alone?” asked Blair. “He could likely be our next shooter. Invite him to eat lunch with you. Introduce him into your fold of friends. You’ll most likely catch a lot of flack from the friends you eat with because they don’t want him upsetting the balance of their social order. After all, who you hang out with is critical to your status, is it not?” he furthered.

“If status is important to you, don’t you think it’s important to him also?” argued the retired Texas teacher. “The only difference being that he has no status because generally, shooters have no friends. Are you serious about wanting to make your school safe? Invite him to your lunch table and challenge your friends to do something meaningful with thirty minutes of their lives each day,” he encouraged.

“Lastly, are you completely frustrated by that kid who always disrupts your class and is consistently sent to the principal’s office?” Blair asked. “He could likely be our next shooter. Do you know why he causes so much trouble? He initiates disruption because that’s the only thing he does that gets him attention, and even bad attention is better than the no attention he receives from you and your classmates,” he pointed out.

“You secretly wish he would get kicked out of school or sent to the alternative disciplinary school so that he wouldn’t disrupt your classes anymore, that somehow, he would just disappear. Guess what? He already feels invisible in a school of thousands of classmates, you included,” added the teacher.

“So, before he acts out in your next class, why don’t you tell him you’d be willing to help him with the assignment that was just given? Or why don’t you ask him to join your study group? If you really want to blow his mind, ask him for help on the assignment. He’s never been asked that. Ever,” wrote Blair.

He also cautioned students not to “trust that walking out of school will bring an answer” to the violence problems we now face as a nation. “Gun control or more laws is not, and will not, be the answer. You are the answer. Your greeting, your smile, your gentle human touch is the only thing that can change the world of a desperate classmate who may be contemplating something as horrendous as a school shooting,” he wrote.

“Look past yourself and look past your phone and look into the eyes of a student who no one else sees,” Blair added. “Meet the gaze of a fellow human being desperate to make contact with anyone, even just one person. You. If you really feel the need to walk, walk toward that person. Your new friendship can relieve the heartache of one person and in doing so, possibly prevent the unjustifiable heartache of hundreds of lives in the future. I know you. I trust you. You are the answer.”

A retired teacher, Blair is intimately familiar with the factors that turn a social outcast into the next school shooter. Like the rest of us, he is tired of watching as innocent people die at schools across the country. He has proposed a solution to the problem which every teen can be a part of instead of wasting their time at anti-gun rallies which will ultimately accomplish nothing.

There is no way to completely prevent another school shooting. However, we can take steps to reduce the likelihood of it happening. David Blair has laid out a plan that everyone needs to hear about. Please share this report so that others will be encouraged to put his words into positive action.

This is something we can all get behind. This is something we can all do to initiate positive change in our community. Be the change that you so desperately wish to see in this depraved and violent world. Please share David Blair’s message.