On Our Silence

Friday, December 14, 2012 will forever be a date remembered by not only American citizens, but people all over the world. The shooting in Newtown, Connecticut has impacted people in a way no other school shooting tragedy has- people feel almost a physical pull to reevaluate how we as a society deal with tragedies. The answer to recovery is not black and white and that is what society struggles with. People want an answer as to how we can fix the pain and how we can prevent this from ever happening again. Some groups want more gun laws put in place, some think the problem is the parenting of the shooter, and others think the best action is no action. However, I think in other tragedies that resemble this one, everyone's immediate response was to look at gun laws. This time I believe more people are looking into mental health issues. 

The shooter had Asberger's Syndrome, but also too had maybe an affinity toward violence, or more precisely was apathetic, meaning he himself may have not felt pain, so he did not register it when causing others pain. However, this is not to say that he didn't understand what he was doing by going into Sandy Hook Elementary that morning. I think the best way to respond to this heartache is to understand more thoroughly what mental illness is and how it affects not only the one suffering from the illness, but also the people surrounded by that person. Catholic Social Teaching would say that we should pray about our struggles, understand that the shooter's family dealt with his illness day in and day out. His mother faced an endless struggle trying to raise her son and deal with his differences. As Catholics we are called to accept them as people of God, people that God created, and even though we may not be able to begin to understand why this happened, understand that our pain and heartbreak is also shared with the Lanza family. They lost two people that day too. Personally, as a catholic I do struggle with accepting the Lanzas as victims, but the truth is they are. I feel compelled to understand how hard life must have been for them because I understand what a hardship it is to be taking care of a child with any type of mental disorder.

I think moving forward it would benefit everyone to find God through the darkness. This time will be tough and the wounds will take time to heal, but God will be with us every step of the way. Everyone wants an answer, a way to deal with the shock and hurt, but there is no answer other than prayers.