We know who the next one is.
We help him purchase the weapons that are his (and I use “his’ intentionally) obsession.
We sell him more ammunition than a person could use in a decade.
We buy him the first-person shooter games, and the gaming system, and the video stream technology so he can play with anyone in the world.
We don’t monitor his screen time or his on-line activities.
We don’t teach him to handle failure or rejection.
We create the websites that glorify those who have acted out this way before.
We sit with him in front of the hours of news coverage.
We “like” his on-line posts trolling those with different views.
We agree with his rants about the evil of the government, or the unfairness of the system, or the taking of our rights.
We share his conspiracy theories.
We believe that just one more law will keep him from doing anything.
We blame everyone else for his problems.
We think “He doesn’t mean that” when we hear his threats.
We don’t call the police when he is violent because we don’t want him to get into trouble.
We think it’s just a phase.
We think the real threat is the people that don’t look like us.
We think that talking about our feelings is enough.
We prescribe the drugs we hope will keep him under control.
We don’t follow up to make sure he is taking the drugs to keep him under control.
We pretend not to notice the illegal drugs–or the drinking.
We think keeping him out on the streets is compassionate and humane.
We don’t think he is really sick.
We know the next one.
What are we going to do about it?
