With the tragedy yesterday in Oak Creek, and the world response, I have been hearing conjecture and rhetoric as to the 'why' we all seek in times of tragedy. I understand the desire to feel safe again, to compartmentalize an incident like this, and to seek a return to normalcy. But I believe that we must choose a different response.
We should ingest the pain and chew on it, reflecting, assessing, and repenting where we can as individuals. That's painful, and it's not the reaction I see from most people.
Some folks shed tears of empathy. Some get angry and assign blame. Others theorize about external factors. Still others dismiss these incidents as the result of a crazy individual. But tears are no defense, anger begets more violence, blame is often misapplied, and external factors are often little more than overly simplistic ways for us to practice bystander syndrome.
I also cannot accept that most of the folks who do this are crazy. That's a coping mechanism that non-offenders use to protect themselves against the fear that anyone could do the same. Even those who have an insanity defense may not be insane. I mean, look at the Jared Loughner case for an example. He's now being declared competent to plead guilty.
They're humans who made a choice to act upon the hatred and prejudice we all must remain vigilant against within our own hearts. The answer as to why this happens is both simple and profound. We are all capable of extreme violence and sin. Any one of us could be that shooter. To create a fantasy about an evil 'other' does not quell the cognitive dissonance we feel when something like this happens.
That said, it does us all good to do a fearless and searching moral inventory in times like this. What is it within me that hates, presupposes, fears? What can I do to root that out? What is the antidote for my own inadequacy? Is there good that I have failed to do?
I've found that in violent conflicts that both sides consider the other side evil. But when an objective observer interacts with people on both sides (like I did in Northern Ireland) it becomes clear that neither side is evil, and even the people who perpetrate the violence are not evil. They've done evil things, but they weren't insane when they did them. Rather, it only took other environmental circumstances and a mentality of fear and hatred to bridge the gap from civility to brutality.
So let us not kid ourselves, blame gun control lobbyists, isolate the shooter, or cower in fear of an external threat. The shooter exists in our own hearts, and no legislation can root out the evil within us. We must do so with God's help. Lord help us all.
