Bubbles of Violence

I have been overwhelmed by the events of last week (shootings at Virgina Tech and the Johnson Space Center) and the constant television coverage of it. So overwhelmed that until now the only way I could express my feelings about it was by using the words and images of others. What is wrong in our country? If you have been watching the talking heads on TV it seems as if no one really has a clue. All the talking heads know is that we had a couple of wackos with guns go out and kill people. They did touch on gun control with the anti-gun control people interviewed reacting very emotionally to any suggestion that maybe guns should not be so easily available in this country.

They have talked and talked. They talked about how insane the young man in Virginia must have been to do such a thing. It turns out a lot of people knew he was a threat but did not do enough to protect the other people on campus. Seems he had rights and the administration were more worried about their rules and the threat of a lawsuit than about the danger this kid presented to his fellow students. They talked about Columbine and the other school shootings in this country. They talked about the victims, living and dead. They talked about how this must never be allowed to happen again- just like they have done after every other mass shooting in this country. Not once did anyone talk about what set this boy off. In the excerpts of his video statements he focused on the disenfranchised of the world and saw himself as their avenger. The shooters at Columbine also saw themselves as avengers for the mistreated. In their case they believed the mistreated were themselves.

These incidents remind me of the influenza outbreak of 1918. That came in two waves. The first outbreak was mild with the number of deaths very low. But there were signs that this virus was not as benign as scientists thought. There were bubbles in the wave. Bubbles where the virus killed swiftly and completely. These bubbles were a warning that the virus was mutating into something more deadly. Scientist thought these bubbles of death were an abnormality and did not prepare for what was to come. When the second wave came it swept the earth like a raging forest fire killing millions.

Our country is infected with the virus of rage. A rage that is fueled by the widening gap between the have and have nots, the sense of entitlement that has seeped into every level of society, the lack of any spirituality at our cultural core*, the lack of respect we have for our fellow beings if they are different from us in any way, the lack of tolerance for any dissenting opinion of any kind, our belief that things and money can make us feel whole, our belief that youth is more valuable than experience or knowledge, and our sneaking suspicion that who we think we are as Americans is not being reflected back to us in the mirror of reality.

So we get bubbles. Bubbles of violence that show us all is not well. And, like the bubbles during the first wave of influenza in 1918, these bubbles are not an abnormality. They are a warning of what is to come. If we do not address the underlying cause of this violence we will see more and more bubbles rising with greater and greater frequency in the coming days.


*I am not talking about religion. Religion seems to teach us that anyone who does not worship God the same way as we do is our enemy. Spirituality shows us that we are all one.