How it is

So obviously this Red Lake shooting is a terrible tragedy; a lot of people died needlessly (assuming there is such a thing as a needful death), including the shooter, himself.
So now what happens is that everyone is going to clamor to find the reason; why did this happen? How can it be prevented? My response to this is: it can’t. My friend Chuck asks: "is this the kind of shit my future kids will have to look forward to?" Yes, it is. Kids are not safe at school, nor will they ever be. You know what? They’re not safe anywhere. Your home is not safe. You are not safe. There is no such thing as safety. It is a concept used to sell security systems and insurance policies, but it does not actually exist. The guy sitting next to you could be the next office shooter. The kid who serves you at Macdonalds could be planning the next Columbine. There are insane, dangerous people out there. That’s it. That’s reality.
Now we go on that familiar merry-go-round of placing blame; it was the school, the family, the media, rap music, video games, movies, the internet. No. Wrong. That kid was just crazy. We can ban anything and everything you want and people will still be crazy. (Although I might suggest that restricting access to guns might help reduce the body counts of these rampages.) In the next months, scores of angst-ridden depressed teenage boys will be suspended or expelled from school because they exhibit the "warning signs." In reality, these are just depressed teenaged boys.
I don’t know; maybe this caution helps. Maybe some kid will get the help he needs; maybe another shooting will actually be prevented. I doubt that it will ever stop entirely.
Christ, this is a bleak post, but that’s how I feel about it. I have no better solutions to offer, only profound sadness.
Hey, how about this: instead of focussing on the few people who shoot up their schools/offices/whatever, think of all the billions of people who don’t. Let’s hear it for them.