October 10, 2024

Thinking Self Destruction, Not Others’

There’s a mistaken idea floating around in some of our heads telling us that suicide is the most tragic end that a person can come to.  While self destruction is a tragedy, there are far worse actions that the depressed, angry, or insane can take, as demonstrated this week in Winnenden, Germany when a former student, preliminarily id’ed as Tim Kretschmer, entered a high school and murdered 10 students and 3 teachers before killing 3 more people while on the run by police before being cornered.

His motives are unknown.

Then, in Samson, Alabama, 28-year-old Michael McClendon went on a similarly pointless rampage in his hometown, killing 10 people and wounding 6 more, including his mother, grandparents, and other family members.

Like the German murderer, McClendon’s motives are unknown and perhaps undefinable.

Frankly, who cares what prompts people like this to act like animals?

At the risk of being cynically nostalgic, what ever happened to the good old days when the deranged simply killed themselves instead of everyone else around them?

marc

Marc is a software developer, writer, and part-time political know-it-all who currently resides in Texas in the good ol' U.S.A.

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