A Stolen Life

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In May of 2012 a man drove out of a campground after spending the weekend with his 17-year-old twin daughters and the family dog.  Instead of turning left to head back into the city, he turned right and drove at high speed straight into a cement truck killing all of them on impact.  I cried every day for a month.  The news of the tragedy went on for weeks.  Who could do this to their own kids and why? It came out that his ex-wife had a restraining order against him.  He also had an alcohol problem. Think of the anger that was festering in him. The wrath he must have felt toward his ex raged in his heart until one day he just snapped. So many lives forever changed.  So many questions as to how this could have been prevented. Didn’t someone see his spiralling downward and try to help? Where was his support?

 

I have the same questions about the school shooter in Uvalde Texas in the US. Didn’t anyone see the warning signs and try to reach out. The shooter Salvador Ramos, 18, lived in a fatherless alcoholic home.  He had neighbours, co-workers, family, and teachers. Why was he not in school?  Rejection and isolation are scary feelings, even for adults. The school shooter fell through the cracks. Covid exacerbated the problem.  “You are safe in the basement” they said. Teenage boys play violent video games, watch porn, and join communities for a sense of belonging and purpose. Get radicalized.  Turn themselves into people they don’t even recognize anymore. Red flags were ignored, and thousands of lives were destroyed.

 

It’s impossible to know whether anyone could’ve prevented these two tortured individuals from committing these heinous acts.  We need to ensure that laws are passed to protect our children and that there is help available to those who need it when they need it. The government doesn’t live inside people’s heads.  We can’t just blame all our societal problems on bad parenting or big tech or God or inflation or the government or poor mental health. What will it take for us to see that it is our responsibility to ensure that the people around us are, okay?  

 

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