I can't understand why there has been another school shooting. I can believe it; the fact that it is becoming a regular occurence kind of makes me expect it, but I still can't understand it. What would drive a person to murder so many innocent people? I don't think its possible that the young man could have been wronged so horribly by each victim that they in turn deserved death.
Was it persecution? Was he a loner? If so, was it by choice? Did he feel oppressed by the majority? Was he mentally off-balance? Did someone say the exact wrong thing at the exact wrong time and tip him over? What is the formula for a massacre?
My guess is that there just wasn't something right about him. He could have been born that way or not, chemically unbalanced or traumatized early on, either way. It could have been a social or mental predisposition for violence to start with. Not that we'll ever know. His environment, meaning either persecution or a perception of persecution, could have pushed him further toward the edge. He could have gone about his days like walking nitro-glycerine. Or maybe more like a bent stick, waiting for that final ounce of pressure to snap. He could have hid it well or those close to him could have suspected he wasn't right. All thats left to set him off is the final straw, and opportunity. The final straw could have been anything. Maybe his girlfriend broke up with him, maybe someone looked at him wrong or maybe he didn't sleep well the night before. Who knows? Maybe there was a little push, or maybe he was just on a downward spiral and hit rock bottom yesterday. We'll never know for sure. He had the opportunity, we know that much. Guns are quite available in the USA and school security is lax. So here it is:
Predisposition + Environment + Last Push + Opportunity = Massacre.
It sounds so very understandable this way, why someone could do this. Only because in this calculation the human factor has been left out. How could all of these things make a person point a gun into a pleading face and pull the trigger? How could he not feel it too? Why is it so human to be so inhuman? This is what I don't understand.
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Site name inspired by the abandoned Ranger station depicted in my first post, and as suggested by the wonderful KT. It was one of many discoveries made during one of many of my misadventures in British Columbia.
Site name inspired by the abandoned Ranger station depicted in my first post, and as suggested by the wonderful KT. It was one of many discoveries made during one of many of my misadventures in British Columbia.
2 comments:
The one word that always stops me is "why?" I always seem to have something to say, but when hit with the knowledge that each and every one of the victims had a full and vibrant life that was cut short and the fact that they still have many friends and family who will be missing them for years to come, there are so few words that seem adequate. It reminds me how much out there I don't yet understand and probably never will. I don't want to believe these things can happen, yet they do and it breaks my heart. I can only hold on to the knowledge that everything happens for a reason - even if I may never know that reason.
I find it scary that school shootings seems to be the new trend. I thought we were a society with a more open mind. Perhaps the readiness of guns is to blame? Maybe the parents for not noticing the disposition of their child? Or maybe ourselves for allowing ourselves to feel safe even when we are not. I am worried for my children to be put in public school. I don't think it is something that anyone should have to fear. The world is a scary place, so how can we make it better?
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