shanenickerson:

I woke up today to read about another horrific shooting in Colorado.  The television media scambled to assign blame as the Twitterati raced to make observations supporting personal agendas, premature categorizations, and of course, tasteless jokes. Mass murder is frightening. It was frightening when it happened in Norway almost exactly a year ago, it was frightening when it happened in Columbine in 1999, and it was terrifying when it happened in NYC on 9/11.  We are built to process information.  We are wired to discover the reasons and somehow justify the horror.  It helps us sleep, I guess.  

“Well, he was a loner…

 A religious nut…

 Mentally ill…

 A muslim…

 A Christian…

 A Tea Party member…

 A Lib…

An American.”

Whatever the label, there will be no solace.  There are unstable people in this world of every nationality, religion, and political leaning.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all band together and mourn tragedies as a nation (and world) of people who are not unstable; who are overwhelminly good and decent; who would not wish a tragedy like this on even their worst enemies?  

We needn’t mimic the divisive media.  We are better than they make us.  We are compassionate enough to not pick a side, but to instead mourn the loss of life without pointing fingers at anyone but the insane person who walked into that theater and killed 12 people.  Any labels they slap on him will not justify the killings.  Answers will never give us peace, and that is a burden we must bear.