|
LadyEllen -> RE: Amish School Shooting (10/3/2006 1:15:15 AM)
|
Now I've heard more about it, I can understand better what this man was about. He seems to have carried a grudge against girls for 20 years, during which he clearly tried to put it behind him and build a reasonable life, but in the end whatever was done to him in his childhood got the better of him and tipped him into an act so terrible that we are now condemning him as an insane, evil person.
The manner in which he reconciled the inner turmoil he felt was totally unacceptable and insane and evil, of that there is no question - but we have to ask ourselves, how and why did this man have such a mindset in the first place? I suspect some sort of humiliating and degrading treatment at the hands of girls when he was 12, which as a male he was never able to deal with and was not permitted to deal with by the way our society forbids boys' and men's expression of hurt and pain. It never went away, however much it was repressed, and eventually burst forth in an awful explosion of anger.
And the interesting thing to me, is that so often these people who go on violent rampages are condemned as insane and evil, and that so often the source of the anger which led them to their criminal slaughter of innocents, is the maltreatment they have received from others in their lives, through abuse, harassment, exclusion and violence directed towards them by arrogant and ignorant and insensitive people.
We can talk all day about how insane and evil this man was, how gun crime is under/out of control and whatever. In the end, it would seem that the best way to prevent the brooding anger which leads to these sorts of incidents, is to make sure that in all of our dealings we are fair and respectful to others, and that our children are brought up the same. How often do we see children excluding one another from this or that group, bullying one another, treating with disdain their peers who are not in their group? This is where such resentment and anger begins - many deal with it, some dont, and even one who doesnt can lead to mass slaughter such as we see so often, which takes in many victims. And we, the adults do exactly the same to one another, albeit that we dont call it by the same names we ascribe to our children's actions.
The guilt for this crime lies with the murderer. But I cant help but think that the blame for his anger lies with our society and the way we deal with one another every day.
There are now several girls and young women in critical condition in hospital, with head wounds which if they should survive them, will likely leave them crippled and brain damaged for life. Four, as of now, have already died. The murderer has killed himself. Amish families and their community have been damaged irreparably by the loss of a whole generation of daughters. And the murderer's wife is widowed and his three children orphaned.
If thats not enough of a toll to make us all think very carefully about how we deal with one another, to avoid sowing the seeds of resentment and anger in others that we do every day, then heaven help all of us. Its not as emotionally satisfying as condemning the murderer and wishing the wrath of whoever on his soul, and it is a lessson from this and all the previous similar incidents which no one wants to hear.
E
|
|
|
|
