There is a population of people who crave attention and the media attention these events generates may be a motivating factor. Even negative attention is attention. It really seems to have started in full swing following the Columbine shootings in Colorado. Those two young men are actually idolized by many misguided youth - because of the "strength" and courage it must have taken to walk into your own school and kill so many people. They felt persecuted and bullied and they were not going to stand for that for that when they had guns to fire.
I'm not blaming the video game industry, but many of these teen aged shooters end up being proficient in violent video games in which killing people is actually glorified and makes the player a winner. This isnt' real life. The video fails to show the victims families devastation, the funerals, the grief. This is a fantasy world that sometimes they cannot separate from the real world. Other kids may not feel they have any other way to deal with a problem if they have been bullied or picked on throughout their high school years. Bullying isn't new - I can remember people making fun of our center on the girls basketball team because of her height - she was 6'7. That was tall back in 1982. It's still tall today but even more so then. We stuck up for her against the bullies on the other team. Not one of us thought of bringing a weapon and using it to kill the bullies. Times have changed and it's changed people.
Naturally only a portion of the mass shootings are committed by teenagers. There are plenty of adults who should know right from wrong yet they choose to commit these acts anyway. Perhaps they are suicidal and angry and want to take out as many people with them before they die. Again, they may feel persecuted, picked on, laughed at - and feel like they have not been successful in life as they had hoped. This description fits many people - life can be tough. People lose jobs, lose relationships, lose houses and experience financial problems. Thankfully not everyone responds with violence.
I can remember the fire drills at school. I remember earthquake drills, being evacuated from class. I can't imagine this generation being so accustomed to "active shooter" drills. The fact that they are makes me sad. So what do we do as a society? How can we collectively make the world a better and safer place? I don't have the answer. I know we can each try to be better people, let a car in a heavy traffic area, smile, hold the door open for someone else. Random acts of kindness are so much better than random acts of violence.
Can we start a campaign of kindness in an effort to offset the violence we are saturated with every time the news comes on? Let's give it a go. It can't hurt, right?
