The pain of empathy stings hard whenever we hear of another school shooting.
Why do mass shooters shoot? What has been researched dances around the edges but doesn’t land an answer on that why question. What does seem to be apparent is that many of these people perceive a grievance, feel a deep pain, are isolated, and need to exert control.
Not everything is clear as to why these psychos go on the rampage that they do, but one thing that seems to be common in some of these people are the feelings of rejection, isolation, pain, hopelessness, coupled with wanting to make a difference in the world. If we were to reduce these things in our culture, would that make these maniacs less likely to snap?
So what counteracts these things? Love. The old Biblical commandment to “Love thy neighbor”… what if we all took another look at that? We all have those stories where someone took the time to say an encouraging word or show a bit of grace. Many times that’s just one of the more wonderful parts of being alive, and other times it can make a real impact on someone.
Perhaps a better question is how do we turn the evil of these events to good? These kinds of attacks on people represents some of the worst that a human being can be. What if we took this as inspiration to turn our culture in the opposite direction?
What if we all started to encourage each other, in a loving spirt, to be a better version of themselves? What if we all made a real focus on those who get left behind or left out? Go outside our social circles and interact with someone new, especially those down on their luck. Focus on bring the best, most positive side out of people. Showing love to the ‘tired, poor, and huddled masses’ through walking by example in this.
What about making more time to be kind to those around us, saying encouraging word to a stranger, taking the time to really listen when we ask someone how they are doing. You never really know what kind of a difference that might make in someone’s life. Being a positive light in someone else’s life can make the difference between someone going down a darker or brighter path. If we all took more time to show empathy, and see the humanity in those around us, and act accordingly. What kind of a better world with this really be?
Would making an effort in this area prevent a few more people from going down that dark road? If so I see yes, let’s all make a greater effort on this. And even if it doesn’t, even if this approach does not prevent one single tragedy, wouldn’t we rather have a culture that focuses on people loving your neighbors be a better world to live in anyway? Much better than living in fear and shunning those we suspect might someday be a threat.
Wasn’t it Gandhi who talked about being the change we wish to see in this world?
Perhaps seeing our society a little more like a village, where we all help each other out more, would increase the cultural social safety net and help keep people from falling into despair.
You never know what life you might impact by reaching out, therein setting someone on a better path or helping them avoid a dark one. The rule of thumb being, ‘Love thy neighbor.’
It is only wise to be prepared should a real life nightmare come knocking, but don’t let that distract from from bringing out the best in yourself and those around you.
We should all respond to the worst in humanity by bringing out the best in humanity, and start with leading by example.
Resource links
https://everytownresearch.org/reports/mass-shootings-analysis/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abusive_power_and_control
Thank you for your blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Keep writing.