When I consider how a person can join with strangers to study scripture, then stand up and murder nine worshippers including the Pastor…I recoil in the face of evil.
When I turn on the news to learn a young man used an assault rifle to slaughter 20 five year old children…I recoil in the face of evil.
When I live in a pristine community where an Assassin enters a supermarket on a beautiful Saturday morning, and shoots a Congresswoman in the head, then turns his weapon on random strangers killing an 8 year old girl, a federal district judge, and 8 people in total until he runs out of bullets…I recoil in the face of evil.
When an independently wealthy man uses a sniper’s rifle from his carefully chosen hotel room, to kill random strangers at an outdoor music concert…I recoil in the face of evil.
And yet as distraught as I am, I am left wondering what about American society produces so many heinous incidents?
One thing connecting these incidents is the emotional detachment each killer feels for the victims. In the absence of clinical mental illness, what explains dehumanizing emotional detachment?
Competition
Competition is one of the most important American virtues; so much so we celebrate and even glorify success born out of competition, while we feel nothing for the losers.
We compete in the games we play. We compete for the friends we have. We compete for lovers, spouses, and possessions. We compete for every grade in school, every honor we achieve, and every dollar we obtain.
When we consider how we take care of ourselves and our families, we accept as a given the only thing standing in the way of everything we want, is other people doing all they can to get it too.
As I think of every job I have held, I can vividly remember the satisfaction I felt when I was offered the position. Missing from my memory was any thought of what happened to the people who didn’t get the job. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what it feels like to not get the job. I had been there many times, and it can be dreadful especially when bills are due. I just never gave those other people any consideration.
This detachment is how we dehumanize each other.
This is how we sleep comfortably in our homes while countless people live and die on the streets. This is how hundreds of thousands of people die annually from preventable diseases in the wealthiest country on Earth. This is how serve and protect…becomes an 8 minute and 46 second snuff film.
No more.
How can I extinguish the evil in my mirror?
By revealing my humanity…as I see yours.