When we say “evil” is at work, that a “force of evil” killed the children and their teachers in Texas this week, we absolve ourselves of any responsibility for action. Evil implies something bigger than we can manage and something inhuman. The child (at 18 he wasn’t a man) who chose to kill 21 people is a product of American culture. We are all complicit. We groomed him from birth to glorify violence, desensitized him to death.
Now we seek to explain, combing for details to try to make sense and to calm the dissonance of living in a country that values guns and embryos more than living, breathing children. Was the shooter “mentally ill”? Was he bullied in school? How did he access firearms? Did his parents abuse him? Were there warning signs? The answers matter, yes, but the real question is WHY ARE WE TOLERATING THIS? Because we are.
If we keep doing Thoughts & Prayers we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting: dead children.