Address causes

Have you noticed that after a mass shooting there is outrage if the killer is tied to “terror.” The more recent shootings are not tied to “terror” and the reaction is “ho hum.” The victims are just as dead or injured. If someone walks on thin ice, we are not surprised that the ice cracks and the person drowns. What do these things have in common? I have a hunch that these random killings have a common cause. I suspect that random killers of any sort are telling us how powerless they feel and are lashing out with the only power they have, themselves and the ability to kill.

The solution, it seems to me, is to find ways to turn such feelings of extreme lack of power into something positive. Instead, we react by dedicating ourselves to destroying the terrorist and all things bad or accepting that one of us did the killing. Surprise, the next news cycle reports another mass killing.

Remember, the next victim might be you or me. Do we have the courage to respond to what is really happening rather than doing stuff which makes the problem worse?

Allan deLaubenfels

Spokane Valley