Strohschein: Have we gone insane?
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- Published on Thursday, June 12, 2014
By: Neil Strohschein
As I write these words, police officers and first responders from across Canada are in Moncton to pay tribute to three RCMP members who were killed in the line of duty a few days ago.
At the same time, students, faculty and staff at the University of California Santa Barbara campus are grieving the May 23 loss of six students at the hands of a lone assailant who then took his own life.
Senseless acts of violence like the two mentioned above are becoming increasingly common. It makes me wonder (sometimes out loud): has this whole world gone insane?
Thankfully, the answer to that question is no.The whole world hasn’t gone insane – only parts of it have. Some of those who live in it have. But the actions of two or three individuals should never be seen as an indication that the world’s population has lost or is losing its collective mind.”
But we are, I would suggest, seeing an increase in the frequency of violent acts like the two mentioned above. We are quite justified in asking: what’s wrong? Why do people resort to violent acts like these?
Some of these acts are clearly acts of revenge. Roughly a year ago, a man walked into a barber shop in Dallas, Texas and shot the shop’s new owner. The gunman, a former employee, had been fired earlier that day. After killing his former boss, the gunman took his own life.
Similar incidents have occurred at the hands of people who had been denied social security or unemployment benefits. Many of the stories we hear come from those parts of United States where gun ownership and control laws are more lenient.
Others are acts of vigilantism. Someone gets angry because of an injustice done (it doesn’t matter whether it is real or imagined) and decides to ‘right the wrong’ by killing others who, in the opinion of the killer, have committed similar acts. The killer assumes the right to act as judge, jury and executioner; leaving his or her community to bury the dead and console the grieving. And since the killers often take their own lives, no one will ever really know what triggered such a violent and horrific act.
As I reflect on these events, I am reminded of the words found in the New Testament book of Hebrews (see Heb. 12:15). The writer warns us not to let “any root of bitterness spring up in our lives, cause problems and defile many.” Unresolved roots of bitterness often produce acts of violence and destruction.
The tragedies of the past few days should warn us all of the dangers that can result when legitimate cries for help are not heeded; when calls for justice are not answered and when warnings concerning potentially violent people are ignored. People don’t start out to be violent.
Something triggers this response inside of them and the longer it remains uncontrolled, the more likely we are to see acts like the ones we witnessed last week.
English philosopher Edmund Burke wrote, “The only thing that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.”
The three RCMP officers laid to rest this past week dared to do something to protect their fellow citizens from a violent person. May they rest in peace and may we resolve anew to work for a world in which all people are given the assurance that their cries for help will be answered and their calls for justice will be taken seriously.