We are all devastated that children died. Again.
Even though we know that the causes are complex, we want to reduce the issue down to one factor.
“There’s not enough access to mental health services!”
“Agencies with oversight didn’t do their job when they learned concerning information!”
“We need gun control!”
It’s complicated.
We are all devastated that children died. Again.
When kids of color die in mass shootings, do they get the same front page headlines? prime time coverage? threaded tweets with tens of thousands of likes?
Many people who own guns never shoot people. They never craft plans to kill other people. They don’t have impulses to kill themselves.
Is it fair to blame only guns and take them away from people who own them, when most are responsible citizens?[1. To be clear, I do support more regulation on firearms. It is possible to support responsible gun ownership AND gun reform.]
Many people with psychiatric disorders never kill people. They never craft plans to kill other people. They don’t have impulses to kill themselves.
Is it fair to blame only psychiatric disorders and the people who experience them, when most are responsible citizens?
We are all devastated that children died. Again.
Many have expressed displeasure with the wide and toothy smile in the photo, his thumb extended for all to see.
Is it fair to blame only him and his administration, when nearly 63 million people voted for him? Most of whom are responsible citizens?
We are all devastated that children died. Again.
This devastation is a reaction to learning the news that young people died through no fault of their own.
Was the murderer’s decision to kill young people at a school a reaction to something else? Was it a self-contained reaction, a reaction born solely of the release and reuptake of serotonin and dopamine and epinephrine and acetylcholine?
Or was it a reaction to the trauma that all young people experience as they live through the cruelties and injustices of the world?
Why was this—killing students with a gun—his reaction?
What is the reason behind your reaction to him?
Or is your reaction due to multiple reasons?
Are we all blind to the hubris of blaming one thing, one condition, or one person? How are we so sure?
We are all devastated that children died. Again.
To sit with our devastation, to embrace it and understand how it affects us, to witness how it shapes what we say and do, is hard. To acknowledge that our emotions don’t feel under our control, to realize that feeling pain makes us vulnerable, is hard.
It’s hard for everyone else, too.
We must accept and respect the vulnerability in ourselves and others if we want our reactions to change. Only then will the devastation will stop.
Maria Yang, MD 