WHY?

Why? That's the question probably on most people's lips recently. Teenagers killing classmates, college kids killing classmates, a former college grad student returning to campus to shoot students . . . why? What is the point? What political statement are they making? Are they even making a statement?

Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalarnessa gave an Advent homily on December 7, to Pope Benedict XVI in which he stated that giving in to lust hurts other people and the individual. If you've read my letter to the GA Bulletin below, you know that lust isn't just about the carnal. Lust is about anything that is more important than anything or anyone else. Lust is about recognition. Lust is about power. Lust is about money (the LOVE of which is the root of all evil actions). Lust is what "I" want, even if it harms "you."

LUST is unbridled craving for something deemed missing in ones life.

Just what are the shooters lusting after? Recognition? Power? Control? What do you think? My guess is that most shooters somehow feel as if they don't exist to other classmates. Some may have been bullied. Some may have been brushed off when asking for recognition by asking for a date. Some may have tried to buy friendships only to lose them once their finances dried up. Some may need friends to validate themselves.

In some way, I believe the "I" of the shooter wants someone to recognize him. Did he drop hints to others? Did he signal his lack of "I" to anyone by actions or deeds? He probably did, even if the hints went by unnoticed. Don't we tell people to "grow up" or "quit acting like a cry baby" when they're "acting out" to get our attention? Maybe these shooters felt as if the only way to finally get attention was to act out with a gun. When they plan to kill themselves, they plan to take as many with them as they can. How sad and how demeaning to those they shoot.

And then what? Why do they stop at one or thirty-one before killing themselves? What is their motivation? That's another "why" we may never understand.

Discipline.

Discipline in ones life will control the lust in ones life. And eventually discipline becomes the habit and replaces lust. But it's not going to be as easy as saying it. If a person is on medication, he must continue to take it, "no matter what" until a doctor says he doesn't have to take it any longer. If a person is having problems being heard, he can go talk to a parent, a teacher, a best friend, a mental health official, a pastor or Priest. He doesn't have to go searching for a gun and some ammunition. Who decided that a gun was the way to resolve conflicts?

Let me ask that again: WHO decided that killing someone was the way to resolve conflicts with that someone? That makes no reasonable sense. Is the person who uses this "fuzzy logic" innocent by reason of "fuzzy logic" when he uses this excuse? Not if he's over the age of consent -- which today means old enough to understand that cartoons are not real.

Killing the other person does not solve anything. And I think that's why so many of the shooters decide on suicide as the "way out" of being punished. If that's the plan all along, my human side (vs my spiritual side) wonders why the shooter doesn't just end it all without taking anyone else with him. But then, that wouldn't bring the person all the posthumous recognition. My spiritual side wonders why the shooter didn't think about prayer first and use better logic to resolve his personal conflicts with life. Again, no recognition in that.

Seems to simple doesn't it? Well, let me tell you, the phrase "I can live through anything" (which has been written about many months ago on this blog) is true. No matter what it is. Grab a prayer book before even thinking about grabbing a gun. Prayer doesn't change "things." Prayer changes the one who prays.

God bless the survivors and God grant His grace to the souls of those who died.

Pace e Bene, Auntie Coosa