Violence stops when fears are faced
by Adele Henderson
“At the root of war is fear: not so much the fear men have of one another as the fear they have of everything. It is not merely that they do not trust one another; they do not even trust themselves . . . . They cannot trust anything because they have ceased to believe in God.” — Thomas Merton
It has been two months since the massacre at Sandy Hook, and I have heard the following as solutions to the problem of violence in our country: putting prayer back in school, banning violent video games, restricting the rights of people with mental illness and controlling what guns people can buy and who can buy them.
Henderson lives in Roanoke.
March 6, 2013 - 6:47 AM
An honest attempt at discussing violence in general and Sandy Hook in particular.
Did anyone at Sandy Hook pray that day? I think the question might be did the shooter, Lanza, pray that day? When was the last time he was on “bended knee”? How much of an influence was a “faith”, a belief in God in his life? I don’t know but I’ll wager not much if any.
Video games can be and are an influence in many of or youths’ life. If you are a good student, you get along with people, you’re on a career path and are somewhat “well adjusted”, they are a release, a hobby, a way to socialize. But to a recluse, a shut in, a nobody who has no other meaningful contact, that video game is played hours a day. The mayhem on the screen becomes their reality. Maybe it’s the one thing they are “good at”.
I don’t think people being treated for moderate to extreme mental illness should have guns in their possession. Anybody who has worked with, for example, a bi-polar individual sees tremendous mood swings one day to the next. And then the individual gets “written up” for something, demoted or fired. How comfortable would you feel as a co-worker knowing he/she talked about how often they went to a firing range?
Lanza needed help and from reports was about to get it and that made him lash out, it pushed him over the edge. The “solutions”, taken individually only won’t stop what happened at Sandy Hook. But several done in concert,
I think will have a beneficial effect. There are similarities between Lanza and Cho and I think localities ought to take action, whether out of fear or responsibility.
Therein lies the question BUD. Were either Lanza or Cho actually BEING treated? Were they? Not by my definition of treated.
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I have run up on some extremely disturbed people out walking the streets, even “gainfully” employed. Sometimes these “law abiding” people snap and kill other people. Sometimes even for no apparent “reason” and never for a justifiable reason.
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The true bottom line is that the ONLY WAY to be secure and relatively free from the actions of others is to isolate and confine “them” or yourself. Due to our laws and civil rights, just knowing someone is a “time bomb” or capable of real slaughter is not reason enough. Therefore we move on to regulating the inanimate (guns, ammo, explosives) and the intangible, (parks, private property, public places). There is no perfect system, there is not even a good system.
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The majority of the mentally ill are gainfully employed or at least law-abiding citizens. The jails have become our de-facto mental wards (with no success, imagine that). Mental health services are virtually impossible to find, afford and maintain. (which is why the jails have “stepped up”).
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We have a mess that is not going to heal itself. That is our reality.