Tuesday, October 03, 2006

School Shootings

Impossible to comprehend the enormity of acts like the one yesterday in that little schoolroom in the peaceful Amish countryside of Pennsylvania, Bush. Five little girls killed! The human mind reaches for explanations and solutions where there are none. Some will want to explain it as an act of pure evil. I don't see it that way. I see it as the unpredictable--and therefore unavoidable--result of some awful kink in a human mind, a piece of wiring gone horribly wrong. Even the search for psychological or emotional explanations will prove eventually futile. A twenty-year old grudge? A childhood wound? We all have them, don't we? But not all of us wake up one day with the notion to go out and kill children. We may not want to think so, but acts such as these, I believe, are essentially inexplicable--at least given our present state of understanding of our complex, unpredictable selves.

There will be no shortage of solutions proffered by those who think they can protect us. We will agonize over whether our children are safe in their schools. Some will blame the availablity of guns and urge stricter laws. As you'll probably guess, Bush, I myself favor a more rational approach to gun laws than those which permit the wide availability of lethal weapons to those who use them for criminal or hate-filled purposes. I believe we have far too many of them in the hands of those who lack the responsibility to use them wisely. But I suspect that stricter gun laws would not have prevented this tragedy from happening.

Some will blame the lack of protection for our children and call for metal detectors at every door to every school, for the ubiquitous presence of armed guards and security personnel... Their goal is total immunity from risk and danger, the cocooning of our children--indeed, of our society--until we are all so protected from others and ourselves that we will have sacrificed every freedom that we have. They, too, are wrong. Obsessed as we are by the dangers that threaten us at every turn, we will never achieve the guaranteed safety that we seem, as a society, to demand. Something, inevitably, will go wrong. A fuse will blow, either on the circuit that controls the electrical security fence or in some fragile human mind, and tragedy will ensue.

We are right to be astounded and appalled by such incomprehensible events, whether man-made or natural. Where we err, I think, is in the arrogant belief that we have the power to completely control them or prevent them. In the memorable words of one who should have done much more, and was empowered to do much more to prevent tragedy, "Stuff happens." He was right in his assertion. He was wrong to use it as an excuse for a lack of foresight and an abdication of responsibility. Somewhere there is a middle path between irresponsibility and acceptance.

In cirumstances of this kind, however, we can do little other than mourn the cruel and senseless loss of life. It is, in a word, a tragedy. And tragedy, by definition, transcends the comfortable world of rational explanations.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've seen a couple of specials on the Amish. One not so good. They are a closed society, a lot happens behind the facade of peace and Christianity. And yes Gringo, it is peace, at any expense... even at the point of the husband taking his daughter to bed, or brother bedding down his sister. Every time they do it, they confess, they are forgiven... just to go do it again. It is sad what happened, but it will happen again.

Anonymous said...

I don't argue your point Gringo:), I'm not christian, although was one in very young years, and catholic at that:). That was not because Mother wanted it that way. When you are spit upon and called names, etc., well, she did it to keep the peace. We lived in a tiny town in Venezuela on the Orinoco. Only one of my children is baptized, she went and had it done herself, I don't believe in it either:). And yes, they alow the 18 year old out to find out about life, such as it is. I'm not disputing that. The one thing I find reprehensible in that closed community is the men taking advantage of the women, at thier leisure, especially the little ones. And, they know no different because it is a closed community. If my Father, God forbid, raped me at 9-twelve, I would guarantee his incarceration for as long as the law would allow! Not go to the elders once caught, confess, be pious for the day, and go back the next night and do it again. Not to mention for years. You honestly, in your heart, feel there is nothing wrong with that, that it's alright Gringo? Just asking...

Anonymous said...

Hi Gringo:), no this wasn't a 'movie', this was a documentary I saw. And no, they aren't expelled from the community. I agree with you on the points you bring up. But I'm not discussing all other people, or communities. Only the Amish. Yes, there are many Amish communities that are commendable, I'm not saying there aren't, some are exemplary. Yes, it would be wrong to axe all for a couple of bad communities. What I'm saying is, unless you get a runaway girl child, even male child, because of the closed community, these atrocities continue. No one is punished unless someone from the community exits and goes to the police, and no one will do it, they don't know any different. The only way they know is if they talk to someone outside the community and find out it's not normal for this to happen. But they are not allowed to talk to outsiders. One of the girls who told her story had been bedded not only by her Father, but all three of her brothers. She wasn't supposed to talk to outsiders but she was in such emotional pain she asked another girl what she should do, well needless to say all 4 got prison, and she wasn't welcome back into the community, ever. She got a job, got her sister out of there, went to a shrink, etc., long docu. Please try to understand what I'm saying:).

Anonymous said...

Yes Gringo:), I have seen good documentaries. On all communities.. Have a peace filled day Gringo...