Shattered Soul

Wednesday, December 05, 2007: Omaha Nebraska woke up today with wall-to-wall coverage of a visit from President George W. Bush, today. All local programming was pre-empting the regular daily fare on television and radio. Later, that silliness is broken by the sound of gunfire inside one of Omaha's upscale shopping centers, in one of the most upscale stores. At 1:44 p.m., the shots rang out, leaving thirteen innocent victims in the wake of terror on the second and third floors of the Von Maur store at Westroads mall. Suddenly, a young man who had been a nobody all his life; self-described as a "burden" on his family, and bent on making his mark, and "going out in style," had pre-empted the Presidential visit -- pre-empted the pre-emptor, if you will. He was making one, final mark on the society that had let him down. From mid-afternoon on Wednesday, to late Friday night, nearly all local programming was directed at the now-recognized new World Record for Mass-Murders in a Shopping Mall,

Then, on Saturday, December 8, the Online version of the Council Bluffs, Iowa "Daily Nonpareil" carried a banner for a reader poll. It read as follows:

Do you think there is anything that can be done to prevent tragedies such as the Westroads Mall shootings?

Yes, more gun control.
No, gun control isn't the problem.
Yes, more education and programs for troubled youths.
Yes, family members should be there to help.
I agree that some of the above will help.
I don't know that anything can be done to stop similar shootings.

Allow me to submit that there ARE certainly solutions to the many issues that come forth, after such a tragic event as a World's Record Mass Murder for Shopping Malls.

It becomes apparent in the aftermath investigations that the perpetrator was a shattered soul, who has suffered innumerable trauma, in both the physical and mental senses, and was a disconnected child, after becoming a foster child at age three. His life's history show that he had been abandoned, time and time again, and that the outcome of those traumatic events leads to a special kind of mental illness, that he really had very little control over.

Now, I'm not saying that the gunman wasn't responsible for his actions, but the most important people in his life had let him down in really special ways, that led to his becoming a sociopath, and ultimately a psychopathic personality, who had a genuine need to be noticed for once in his life. He found a way to make his mark, and because of all the mistakes that had left their marks on his psyche, he decided to select a day when the most powerful man in the world was in town, and he selected one of the most upscale stores he could think of, and he may have even tried to time the event, so that it would have the most impact on what he perceived to be the kind of people he had developed a special hatred for.

He was what some talking heads would call "a very troubled, yet normal, child, who just apparently lost his way," (actual quote, used by a local television station, the night of the tragedy). In reality, he was the product of a broken home, a terrible divorce, and two parents who either didn't want him, at age three, or couldn't handle him, at that horrible age. As his life progressed, he became part of a system that "treats," but cannot "cure" issues such as his, mostly because there's no money in a "cure," yet the dollars keep a steady flow, when "treatments" abound. The actual welfare of the patient is truly the least of the concerns of those in charge of that system. These events indicate that the system needs to be changed, and new methodology found, to educate young parents that there are consequences to a marriage gone awry, there are young victims who are innocent of wrong-doing, in many of those cases, and the ramifications of abandoning children is a life-long trauma that it's rare to overcome.

Interesting that every single madman of late, (over the past twenty years), who took a gun, and decided to kill innocent people, whether we understand that he/she wanted to make a point, was, at some point, addicted to violent video games -- no exceptions -- every single case, from Columbine to Portland, OR to Virginia Tech, to Florida to Omaha's Westroads Mall. One would think that would be common knowledge, but it's not. We also learned that Robbie Hawkins was a "gamer," and that he enjoyed a number of different video games. Any bets on whether they were of the violent variety?

Given that foresight could be as clear as hindsight, the case of Robbie Hawkins is an absolute textbook example of an emotionally disconnected child, who grew up to become a monster that no one is willing to accept responsibility for, . . . yet there are evidentiary tracks that point toward a number of people and institutions who should have owned more of the task they are, . . . . or WERE, charged with.

Let's face it people, . . . since the early 1950s, the liberal approach to the American lifestyle has been to allow anyone who's a parent to work outside the home, a traditionally MALE role, so that the standard of living could be raised to new levels. The approach creates a need for what we now call "day care." I've even heard parents justify the use of day care as the reason for needing a second, or even a third vehicle, and therefore the need for Mom to work outside the home -- leaving the chore of motherhood to someone else.

Just this past week, our agency met with a client and his attorney, to familiarize them with a psychological strategy for trial, in a divorce and custody matter. We were told that the courts now hold that the use of multiple day care providers is a perfectly acceptable approach to custody decrees, nowadays. This is SOOOOOOO tragic. Imagine, as an adult, having to spend every night at a different motel, in a different city, in a different environment. Now, imagine that you have a language and customs issue added to the mix, to make it interesting. That's what it's like for a child to have to spend his/her day going from day-care to day care, never knowing what the sheets will feel like, how long you can sleep, what is to eat, how your body will accept it, or what is expected of you, how you should respond to any given input, and all under differing conditions of all sorts. This is complicated by the fact that a child is always in the learning mode, adjusting to different people, defining personal needs, (most of which are very basic, and very, very necessary), and compounded by the lack of the love and adoration of a loving parent, when you really need them. Sometimes you just have to wonder if judges and attorneys have any souls, themselves. They certainly have been jaded to the point of losing the ability to ask basic questions and apply common sense, when it comes to giving parental advice.

Last week, we noticed that a local prosecutor has dismissed numerous charges against a man with a history of pedophilia, leaving in place one charge of "lascivious acts with a child," as a matter of plea bargain. the news story said that the prosecutor had "been in contact with the families of the victims of the charges that were being dismissed." Phooey! It's also acceptable for the courts to just release these dangerous people onto the streets of our cities and towns, to find more victims, sometime in the future. Apparently it's just NOT common knowledge that pedophilia is an INCURABLE mental condition, and that there are no psychologists who can come forward to present documented evidence of a cured case of pedophilia, IN ALL OF RECORDED HISTORY! But, our courts find the situation untenable, and don't know what else to do.

Maybe those judges are in the wrong business. Maybe the fact that there are NO CASES of mass murders committed in public places where violent video games played NO part, will become en grained on the minds of attorneys and judges, all across our great country, and our legislators will find a way to make these things illegal.

But it would be so much easier, if parents would just BE parents, instead of working on their own narcissistic behaviors, and increasing their standards of living, beyond what they can afford, at the expense of their children. And, . . . . the cycle continues to degenerate into more mass murders and more shattered souls.

By centering our children in the "day-care environment," and diminishing all family values, . . . by abandoning our children to a corrupt system of governmental supervision of mental health and the internal cash-flow of that system, we have created a new generation of kids who have no real value for life, . . . who will just as soon kill someone, in order to be noticed, . . . who really have no reason to live, because their parents threw them away, in favor of a higher standard of living. We as a society will pay the price for such a liberal approach to parental responsibility. there will be more of these killings, and more clueless television reporters making mindless jabber, about "normal, yet troubled, kids; who have just lost their way."

God Bless,

Dan'L