Who Could Shoot a Child?

My newspaper had a luncheon today for a retiring employee, and the conversation shifted from the minute we sat down to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Connecticut as news flowed in through everyone’s smart phones. Our staff, some of us with decades of journalism experience, shook our heads and clucked our tongues. How could this happen? Who would do such a thing? Were video games to blame? Lax gun laws? Smart phones? Too much violent television? What?

People who commit unfathomable acts are poisoned in some way that healthy people can't understand, or are afraid to try to understand. They are broken machines, and I don't know how to fix them.
People who commit unfathomable acts are poisoned in some way that healthy people can’t understand, or are afraid to try to understand. They are broken machines, and I don’t know how to fix them.

A younger member of our group, a nice girl named Shelby asked, “How could you shoot a child?”

“You couldn’t shoot a child, Shelby. Neither could I. People who commit these kinds of crime perceive reality in a very different way than you and I do,” I explained.

Art, who has been in journalism for 46 years, asked, “Then what’s the answer?”

I don’t know the answer. Aside from being the best person I can, and trying to let that spread, I have no answer.

There will be a lot of commentary from a lot of perspectives as this tragedy unfolds. This is my first take on it.

3 Comments

  1. There is no magic answer to prevent this. There are steps we can take to lessen the chance however.

  2. the part when you said that their perception of the way they think and comprehend the incomprehensible is exactly correct. they do not have the same thought pattern that people who live peacefully and society have. the illogical is logical in their minds. Timothy McVeigh figured that out privately. somehow he was able to break through that insanity and realize the terrible act that he committed was completely outrageous. he came to his senses at some point and realized what he had done and how insane it was. of course for a mass murderer to come to that kind of realization is extremely rare. he kept it to himself and his attorney only because he knew that he could not speak a single word that would be received well by anyone. so his lawyer mentioned that he had his Epiphany and was remorseful after McVeigh was executed. and I don’t believe that the lawyer intended for his statement to go to the media. he simply made a comment and it got published. although I don’t think the comment was big news. I don’t remember hearing about it on every channel for hours and days on end. I read a tiny article in the newspaper. I never heard anymore about it so I don’t know if it was picked up or just dismissed.

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