Since I first heard about the elementary school shooting in Connecticut I have saturated myself with all the accessible details of the shooting. Recently, a lot has come to light about the shooter himself. His name was Adam...No one has come forward that really knew him, they just know about him and that includes his own family. People have noted that he was an incredibly intelligent young man but very reclusive. Authorities have said that his parents were divorced several years ago and neighbors commented that his mother was very strict and overly controlling of Adam. Over the past 2 days there has been a collaborative effort from police, psychiatrists, forensic experts, and journalists to obtain information about this young man. I find it tragically ironic that this profound effort to find out what Adam was going through only occurred after 28 lives had been lost.
I can't express the sorrow I feel that people such as Adam Lanza, Jacob Roberts, James Holmes, Seung-Hui Cho, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold are only of interest to us once they committed heinous crimes that claim many innocent lives. I can't help but wonder who noticed that these boys weren't doing so well, or had become reclusive, or seemed troubled, or were dealing with family trauma and just went on about their business. It takes years of neglect and despair to build up the kind of helpless rage that allows evil to enter a person's heart, soul, and mind to the point that they can only express themselves through tragic loss of life. Why can't we be interested in these people's lives before they reach this fatal breaking point? Are our schedules really that demanding? Are our priorities really that far out of whack? Are we really that self-centered? God, I hope not.
We will spend hours reading about ruthless killers online, but we wont take 15 minutes to talk to the weird kid in the corner about what's going on with his life. There are 28 families, hundreds of children, and thousands of relatives, friends and community members that are reeling from one of the most devastating events that will ever unfold in part because no one cared enough to find out why the neighbor boy always looked so upset and never played with the other kids.
Look, I don't want to rant about who's to blame for this because ultimately Adam chose to pull the trigger and that's on him. However, I think it would be naive to turn this into a gun control issue when clearly there are an abundance of disturbed young men in this world who can't find the proper love, support and guidance to make it through this life without massacring a school, theater, or workplace and eventually turning the gun on themselves. We are all connected; we are all in this together. Our life choices affect everyone around us and we've got to stop thinking that "our life is simply our own" therefore we can carelessly move through it without regard for how we impact others, both positively and negatively. How is it that we are so captivated by anything with a battery and WiFi yet we neglect to see the most beautiful things around us; other human beings? We were made for human interaction. We need relationships and most importantly, we crave intimacy and when we go long enough without any of these things there's no telling what darkness will fill the void.
Let's start caring more for the people around us then the games in our phones. Let's prioritize relationships over our careers or monetary success. Let's begin to light up the darkness.
