Sunday Musings - Stormy Weather

I, like every sane person on this planet, was saddened to hear of another school shooting in the US.The shooter apparently was a 20 year old man who forced his way into the school with a rifle.

My heart goes out to all those families and the members of the school community that survived this terrible ordeal, but I have to wonder what caused a young man to make such a devastating choice.

Stormy Weather at Henley Beach SA

We may never really know his motivation, but my guess is that it was a mixture of fear and anger so great that it was like a storm in his head stopping him from thinking straight.

I do not condone this young man's choice, but I can have compassion for him. We do not know what kind of life he had. We do not know if he was abused as many people who do these sorts of horrid crimes are.

We do not know if he had some sort of mental incapacity so that he was unable to make better choices. 

We as a society are capable of great compassion and humanity but  we are also capable of wounding and destroying each other. 

Every time someone commits a heinous crime such as this we call on our Governments to make changes to stop it happening again. Governments can do things like legislate to restrict access to fire arms but they can only do so much.

We as a society (and I am talking about everyone on the planet) need to look at ourselves and our behaviours and make changes too. We all need to take some responsibility for  what has happened. 

Early Sunday Morning at Henley Beach SA

We need to stop abuse and bullying, we need to stop our children being exposed to violence, we need to teach our children that violence is not the way to resolve issues. 

We need to give our children our time, our love and respect; all of which they deserve. Then maybe there will be fewer people with angry storms in their heads and more people who are able to make better choices in their lives.

Hilary Thompson
The Out and About Therapist
Facilitator at Flourishing Relationships Retreats