We are the "Someone"

It happened again yesterday...the tragic and unexpected event was then followed by the very expected would've, could've, should've thoughts and countless questions like... What were the warning signs? What could've driven someone to take so many lives? And WHY? Why did it have to happen at all? Speculations are made and, all the while, the spotlight seems to be on intervention as the sole means of prevention. "If only we would've intervened sooner," and "We should've payed more attention to the warning signs so this could've been avoided altogether." Well, I agree. There certainly were warning signs that someone should have paid more attention to, I can't argue there. But what is the source of the problem? How and when does it start? Who else should be held responsible for this kind of atrocity? Well, the problem usually begins as an inactive internal one, then it slowly, or sometimes quickly, becomes an active and very destructive one. Sufferring allows for weeds of hurt to settle in the soul while the absence of forgiveness or the presence of anger allow for the overgrowth of all things evil, right before emotional death sets in. The individual who committed the murders yesterday was already dead, spiritually speaking, even before he decided to take his own life. In becoming unfamiliar with life, he also lost his ability to respect its significance. So what caused the existence of these warning signs in the first place? An unresolved issue.

Probably much like you, I was watching the news for awhile yesterday...and I was waiting for? Some kind of answer that would bring about at least a slight sense of peace. The news didn't offer much relief; no surprise there. I heard what the psychologists had to say. They all seemed to agree that someone should've stepped-in a lot sooner, read the warning signs better. Though they each had their own ideas regarding what, exactly, could've driven someone to horrifically take the lives of so many, as the Virginia Tech killer did. I remember one psychologist's statement in particular (and this was voiced before discovering that the killer was actually a student) she said that for someone to engage in such a killing rampage, it's possible that the individual experienced some form of recent emotional trauma, like the loss of a loved one, caused by death or the end of a relationship. Instead of entering the grieving process, they'd chosen to act out their feelings of anger irrationally and violently. But, apparently, if that was the case, no one had seriously bothered to take any interest in the person's emotional state up to that deathly point of no return.

Those responsible for the Columbine incident awhile back were discovered to be seriously emotionally disturbed and unhappy kids; their parents weren't even entirely aware of their condition. And after that awful incident sent chills up and down our spine, we vowed to pay more attention, to spend more time asking all the right questions...but it happened again. We all want to be reassured that this kind of thing won't happen again, that the proper measures will be taken to ensure each person's safety. But how do we not only open our eyes to the emotionally unstable conditions of others, but also keep them open long enough to prevent those very individuals from contributing to someone else's broken state? Most of all, how do we limit the cause of those conditions? We are all pro-intervention, but what steps are we taking in order to actually prevent the problematic situations that require us to later intervene?

Sometimes we're watching the news waiting for the answers that we already have, and instead of acting on what we know but often ignore, we continue flipping the channels, hoping our inactivity won't haunt us again...


*My heart goes out to all those hurting as a result of the tragedy, and so do my prayers.