A question of blame

[Anita Kilgour]

Matt queried:

> Was it the school's fault?  Was it the parents' fault?  Was
> it the janitor's
> fault?  The gun manufacturers?  Quake?  Doom?  Tom Brokaw?  Movies?
> Television?  Who knows.

You know...this has been turning around in my head for a while now...

Blame.  I comprehend the desperate need for someone or something to be
responsible for what happened.  If there isn't someone to blame, then it
means that this sort of thing was random and it could happen "in my own back
yard".  Not something most folks want to think about.

I agree there were several places where the community and the media and you
name it fell down and failed to help bring these kids into a universe that
was mutually respectful, loving and curious.

Hell, I'm pretty sure that's happened to *lots* of kids.

The ones in Columbine and Tabor were different.  They went off and killed
folks.

And I keep thinking, "maybe there *isn't* anyone to blame.  Maybe the kids
just went nuts.  Nobody's fault, no great evil monster that if we could just
get rid of it, we'd all be happy."

Granted, whenever I bring forth this option in personal discussions with
folks, I get reminded that no one wants to consider that, because it means
it *was* random and chaotic.  While I'm used to that (known that this was
just the way life was for a long time now), it doesn't seem to sit well with
the rest of the world.

Thoughts?

--
Anita