Coal mines are hazardous places to work. In the 20th century, more than 100,000 miners died working in them. Apart from roof collapses, miners also risk exposure to toxic or explosive gases released as the coal is mined.

In the early 1800s, after a gas explosion, coal miners used canaries to test for carbon monoxide. If the canary died, the miners increased ventilation in the mine to remove the dangerous gases. The miners then conducted the same test with another canary and repeated the process until a bird survived. When the canaries died, they knew it was unsafe. When the canaries lived, they knew it was safe to return to the mine.

Do you see the "canaries"—the warnings of the age in which we live?

Canadian environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki (recipient of UNESCO's highest international distinction in popular science) described making a connection with our environmental "canaries" in an interview in 1989.

He said, "Well, when a coal-miner took a canary in the coal mine and the canary fell over, the coal-miner didn't say, 'Oh, that bird just died but I'm not a bird.' The canary fell over because it was sharing the same air. When you see 22 Beluga whales dying in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and they are so full of toxic chemicals you have to wear gloves and a mask to touch them…, when people tell us that two species an hour are going extinct and 20,000 seals died in the North Sea and they don't know why, surely those are canaries and if we think we're not in the same environment as those organisms, we're nuts" (Merrily Weisbord, "Suzuki Speaks Out," 1989).

School shootings

Can you make a connection with the "canaries" all around us? What about recent shootings at schools? For one example, let's consider the "canaries" involved in the tragic random shooting at Dawson College, Montreal, Quebec, in September 2006.

On the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 13, did any of the adult students at Dawson College consider that by noon that day more than a dozen of them would have gunshot wounds from a semi­automatic rifle? Or that one 18-year-old girl would be dead, as well as the 25-year-old gunman?

In the aftermath of this event did anyone make a connection to the "canaries"? Few did. The shooter's mother didn't. One insightful journalist did.

Within two weeks of this tragedy, there were two more school shootings in the United States: One in Colorado with girl hostages taken; and the other in Pennsylvania at an Amish school, where five young girls were murdered by a married man, shortly after he saw his own children safely off to their school.

Let's consider the "canaries" and why it is we don't seem to connect the dots or take notice of what dying canaries are telling us.

What were the canaries?

The 25-year-old man in Montreal was heavily involved in a Web site with demonic overtones. He posted multiple photos with a variety of weapons. In one, he was pictured making the sign of the devil.

He wrote extensively in a survey on the Web site, calling himself "the Angel of Death" and claiming that he disliked the world and everything in it. He identified his most missed memory as "being young." He said he had been on drugs in the past, and that he wanted to die "in a hail of gunfire." In his blog (an Internet journal), two hours before committing his murder, he wrote that he had consumed some whiskey and had listened to music from Megadeth. He wore a long black leather trench coat and had a Mohawk haircut.

His favorite video game was Super Columbine Massacre RPG based on the April 20, 1999, mass murder of 13 students and one teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado by students wearing trench coats and dubbing themselves the "Trench Coat Mafia." He had a semiautomatic rifle and handguns, all legally registered.

Did his mother recognize any "canaries"—see any connection from his lifestyle?

Although sorry for what her son had done, she added, "It's not our fault" (Graeme Hamilton, "Mother of Killer Feels Sorry," National Post, Sept. 16, 2006). She said she knew he loved his semiautomatic rifle but figured that his frequent trips to the shooting range were just a hobby. He still slept in the same bedroom he had occupied as a child and ate his mother's cooking. His mother said of her son, "He would never hit or hurt—even with words—so how could he do such a thing?" She said she did not raise him that way.

Yet what were the canaries? He didn't hide his guns. His mother knew that a friend had taken pictures of him wielding the rifle in front of the family fireplace. She was unaware he had also purchased two handguns. She knew he spent a lot of time on the computer in his bedroom but had no idea he was filling an online journal with hate-filled ravings and violent fantasies.

When he left the house that Wednesday morning, dressed in a black trench coat and taking his weapons, she said she thought he was just going out to look for a job!

How do we fail to see the canaries of family, of behavior, of the influences of society?

Perhaps it is because we so reflect the society around us that we see it as normal. We see no problem with it. An instructive biblical statement informs us, "Cursed are those who give the name of good to evil, and of evil to what is good: who make light dark, and dark light: who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20, Bible in Better English).

We fail to see the connection between evil influences and behavior until the result is all too evident in the violent deaths of others.

Do those who create the evil influence see any canaries?

What of the Web site referenced earlier, a site also linked to several murders and rapes, including the triple first-degree murders of three members of a Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, family in May 2006? A 12-year-old girl turned Goth freak and her 23-year-old "boyfriend" are the accused killers.

Is there a moral responsibility upon those who create such Web sites? The Montreal blog was run under the name of Fatality666 (to associate with Satan), and its creator called himself Trench and wrote, "Life is a video game, you have to die sometime" (Licia Corbella, "Hatred Fuelled Killer's Act," The Calgary Sun, Sept. 17, 2006).

What of the maker of the Super Columbine video game? The 24-year-old maker from California calls his game "art" and "social commentary" and regretted that people misconstrued his message or that people use the game to justify their own immoral behavior. Yet is the canary telling us that such games are disgraceful and exploitive and immoral to an extreme? The maker doesn't see any canary reflecting a sick society—but do you?

Garbage in, garbage out

The insightful journalist Licia Corbella recognized that we humans are what we eat: Garbage in, garbage out. She recognized from the tragedy that if you consume violence, you will be violent; if you consume hatred, you will be hateful; if you put garbage into your mind, garbage will come out.

She recognized that if you put murderous thoughts into your head, the likelihood is that dangerous and murderous actions will result. The young man who became a murderer acted on the music he listened to, acted out the games he played, acted out the thoughts he allowed himself to meditate on. Thoughts of violence, anger and hatred toward others became a steady diet.

Put beauty in, beauty will result

Over 1,900 years ago the apostle Paul wrote potent advice to the Philippians that remains as powerful for today. He said to "meditate" or devote concentrated thought to the positives and virtues of life. "Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse" (Philippians 4:8, The Message).

Oh yes, I know, doing this would seriously affect the movies, videos, books, Web sites, magazines and television that both you and your children watch and read. But remember, garbage in, garbage out. If we fail to see any connection to the canaries dying all around us from the fumes of our toxic society, we will be no better than family members who see no connection with what causes their sons to become mass murderers.

You can change if you can see the canaries dying and take action.

You can emphasize the positive and eliminate the negative influences in your life.

• Eliminate viewing violent, dangerous or pornographic Internet Web sites on your computer. Parents can set controls on their children's computers to block access to unwanted material.

• Eliminate viewing violent, dangerous movies or videos and refuse to listen to crudity and cursing.

• Eliminate listening to songs with crass lyrics or discordant music.

Instead, choose clean, upright, wholesome entertainment. Don't allow a devilish, hurtful, negative influence into your mind. Evaluate your dress, fashion, hobbies and lifestyle. Choose instead to reflect positive, upright biblical values. Make an effort to serve other people in a positive, uplifting, helpful way. Serve others. Help others.

Write for our booklet, Making Life Work. Free yourself from a society that is unable to make a connection with the toxic influences all around. Make a decision to walk in a right way. You'll not regret it. WNP