A number of officials and journalists make a big to do about not using the name of a perpatrator of a crime, such as a mass shooting when commenting or reporting on it. The reason given is that they do not want to glorify or sensationalize the crime and its effects.
I beg to differ.
Although my analogy may seem an insult to the pain inflicted on the mass shooting in Roseburg, Oregon today, I do not mean it to be. As a child, when teased about my cerebral palsy--"Palsy Patty", etc., I was advised to "focus on the positive and ignore the negative." My response? "But it hurts! I can't do that." It took many years to arrive at my manner of dealing with the teasing. Knowing I could not ignore it--the teasing was not going to go away magically, I needed a strategy to cope with the teasing. Over time, I adopted a mantra that I live by yet today. Without a second thought, I "focus on the positive, and learn from the negative. Instinctively, I knew that I needed to give my attention to learning as much about the people who teased me--what were their motivations, what questions did they need to have answered in order to stop teasing me. Call me an idealist, but, I am firmly convinced that people can understand, that teasing may be stopped. I believed--I still believe--that it is my responsible to answer their questions.
Returning to the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, our attention is drawn back to past mass shootings and what the responses that various people and groups believe should be. Passionate on both sides, some say that gun control laws are essential. Others say that guns are not the problem, but, that the mass shootings point to the need for mental health programs and services.
Although a pacifist, and an ardent supporter of further gun control legislation, I feel called to respond to the need for more mental health programs and services. I agree. However, it is not an either or question.
Addressing the need for more effective mental health programs and services demands learning about the individuals involved in perpetrating mass shootings What were their motivations? What was their background? Those are just two questions that come to mind. I am sure there are many others. The process of asking questions must begin with the very information that investigators--police and journalists, sometimes feel compelled to not speak...the name of the crime's perpetrator.
The contribution I commit myself to regarding mass killings is threefold. I live every minute of every day as an ardent pacifist. Secondly, when so inspired by world events, I will share my reflections on how to live peacefully. Third, rather than putting myself in the middle of the battle to secure further gun control legislation, or mental health programs and services, I commit myself to volunteer in my community with organizations that provide positive, peaceful, creative ways to live harmoniously.
Once a week I gather with a community of individuals committed to live in peace and harmony. We say, "May the peace of Christ be with you." We commit ourselves to one another to leave the physical church and return to the outside world to live in peace with individuals of all beliefs.
I pray we may ask the questions necessary to understand the motivations of individuals who commit crimes. I pray we may take the requisite action to make peace our way of life. It is possible.
