Sad, Unanswerable Questions

Today’s post begins with a fractal called In Memory. I created it the day of the bus bombings in London to honor the victims there but I guess the image will serve to memorialize all victims of needless violence.
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There have been several shootings in the news this past week that have really occupied my mind. Don’t worry--this won’t be a polemic on gun control: nothing I can say will change anyone’s minds--be they for or against. I just felt the need to put “pen to paper” (as it were) to express my feelings…
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Today Los Angeles Police Officer Randal Simmons will be laid to rest. He is the first S.W.A.T. Officer to be killed in the line of duty. He died shielding his fellow officers from bullets fired by a deranged young man who had already killed his father and two brothers. (Edwin Rivera was reportedly distraught over the death of his mother several years earlier.)
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On Tuesday February 12 15 year-old Middle School Student Lawrence King was shot in the head by a 14 year-old classmate--reportedly because King was gay. The shooter (identified as Brandon McInerny on KCBS TV--Channel 2) will be tried as an adult for murder and the commission of a hate crime.
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Yesterday, Steven Kazmierczak, 27, turned a gun on himself after killing six students in a Northern Illinois University Lecture Hall. At present there is no indication he knew anyone in the class and there is no known motive for the rampage. (He was a good student and had no “red flags” to raise alarms--although he had recently stopped taking medication for some personality disorder.
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I think about incidents like this and all I can do is shake my head and ask myself “why?” Why would anyone feel the need to do such a thing? Why didn’t anyone close to them see it coming and why didn’t they seek help? Were there signs of trouble that the those close to the shooters missed?
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At least in Brandon McInerney’s I can almost wrap my head around it. I was a “different” kid who was picked on in school because I was artistic and somewhat too emotional and I know how calculatingly cruel children can be. But I still have to ask myself--what the hell was this kid thinking??? (Obviously, as a 15 year-old he WASN’T thinking--but still!) I understand he was living with his grandfather (so there had to be some family issues) but I still can’t figure out where he got the idea that getting a gun and shooting someone FOR ANY REASON would be a good idea. Was he goaded into it by his buddies or did he come up with the idea all on his own. The kid’s grandfather reportedly doesn’t own a gun so where does a 14 year-old manage to get one? How could such a thing happen?
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Above all I wonder if he even understands what he did. I suspect the answer would be no. I imagine he must be upset and afraid (and I’m sure his family must be devastated). Still, none of this is an excuse to let the kid off for what he did: I hope he’s punished to the full extent of the law. Maybe, just maybe that will dissuade other kids from doing the same thing (although I really doubt that.)
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What can we do? I don’t know. Watch the people close to us, make sure they stay on meds and report any signs of trouble. Praying would probably help too.