Enough with the shootings, already.

Seriously. The frequency and grotesqueness of these events has stepped up over the last 10 years. No longer are they isolated incidents and they continue reveal a darkness of the human soul reminiscent of the Salem witch trial torture sessions.

There is no palpable reason for these tragedies, and this one will haunt us for a very long time. In human history, never has an act been more despicable and more taboo even among the dissidents of society than that of harming a child – of course pedophiles, Baal worshipers of the Old Testament and radical Islamists would argue this point but for the most part you don’t harm kids. A deeper level of disgust and the taste of bile entered my mouth when I learned that most of the 20 children in this tragedy were between the ages of 5 and 8 years old. I have two children in that age range and it wasn't until I had time to think about this during my commute home yesterday that this latest shooting sunk in.

It didn't take long for the religious and non religious to say the exact same thing, “How can a loving and benevolent God allow this to happen?”

I got a knot in my stomach yesterday when a woman on the radio actually said that the shooting was in God’s plan. I know there are people out there who will echo this response but I don’t like it. It is a cliché, an easy way out so that we don’t have to confront or think about the evil in this world. Please explain to me how the death of dozens of small children fits into the Almighty’s plan. Is it to teach a lesson to Fred in Wisconsin that he needs to be thankful for what he has? Is it a lesson to all of us? I think there is a more subtle way to get that point across. What possible good will come to the parents of those slaughtered children and to the first responders who are already getting counseling?

If this shooting was in his plan, then it is a lousy one. I believe in God, I am not judging him or his wisdom, but as his creation can’t I ask him, “What’s up with that?” Even Jesus, while hanging on the cross, asked the Father, “Why have you forsaken me?” I would bet a paycheck a few of the parents of those children are asking the same thing.

There will be no reason sufficient enough for the parents of those children and the spouses of those teachers that will satisfy. If there is a note from this cowardly shooter, it will undoubtedly point to a conveniently formulated reason we have heard a hundred times- his mother didn’t play with him enough, he didn't have enough toys to play with as a kid, voices told him to do it, et. al. Ad Nauseum. Do doubt these wack jobs have psychological issues, but we will never know the reason why- so stop asking. They are crazy assholes- that is the reason.

I do not want to know the name of this person. I don’t want to hear anything about him. I have made this claim before, the movie theater shooting not too long ago being the most recent, but the media do not care. This person, even in death, will get what he wanted- his 15 minutes. We didn't hear much about the victims in the Colorado shooting but we hear everything about that shooter.

I wonder how much of an effect a commercial like this one would have:

All the CEO’s of every major television outlet are gathered together in a room and one by one, a few of them recite a script that explains they will not give one second of media coverage to the cowardly and mentally sick people who go on rampages like this. If there is some twisted thought that comes to these people in the dark recesses in their minds that television coverage of their event will satisfy- they will not get it. The victims will be the focus of the stories.

But this will never happen. Tragedies like this are good for ratings.

You can be sure that every special interest that has a hand in this Connecticut shooting will be throwing in their lot. Gun control, anti-gun control, religious groups, anti religious groups- they all have an agenda and will try to use this event to push it. The next few months will not be pretty as fingers are pointed in every direction for someone to blame. Perhaps we have only ourselves to blame? We have become a soft, entitled and spoiled nation and maybe this is the fruit of the Great American Experiment. We are destroying ourselves from the inside out- our government has done more harm to this country than all the terrorist groups combined. The religious will certainly say that as a nation we have eliminated God as much as possible from our politics and public places so this is the price we pay. Maybe that is true, maybe it isn't.

  

The Connecticut shooting will be an emotionally seismic event for most of the country. It will have a ripple effect and hit the shores of our oceanic neighbors and strike at the very core of human emotion.