Why Do Kids Shoot to Kill?

“but deliver us from evil.” (The Lord’s Prayer)

Sam and I cannot adequately express the depth of our sorrow for the families who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Connecticut. How awful. We can’t even begin to imagine the pain. How devastating to have a child so young or a loving spouse, formerly so close, ripped out of your life with such brutal finality.

Like many others, Sam and I can’t help wonder, what is wrong with our world? These shootings seem to be occurring with alarming frequency. Why do some of us feel so disenfranchised and hateful and angry? What causes that? Of course, Sam and I don’t know.

In church Sunday I was observing a little boy about six or seven years old in the pew in front of me. He seemed like a good little kid, but when his mother gave him a dollar to put in the offering plate and he didn’t do it, she took the dollar back and put it into her purse. The little guy was quite put out about losing that dollar and tried to take it out of his mother’s purse, but she wouldn’t let him. I couldn’t help wondering how that little guy would turn out as an adult. But you just can’t predict something like that. We’ve all seen good kids go bad and bad kids turn out good.

One of the other sad things I can’t help wondering about, is what a devastating effect it must have on parents when their kid turns out so bad, when he or she (mostly he) guns down innocent people for some reason only he knows. Although we parents can’t really be held accountable for the actions of our children when they become adults, you just can’t help asking yourself, “Where did I go wrong?” You ask yourself, “Was I too mean? Did I not discipline enough? Did I withhold my love and approval when I shouldn’t have? What happened?”

I would be so devastated if my son killed a bunch of people, especially little children, because I hadn’t done a good enough job of raising him. The truth of the matter is, however, because every person is different, you might have done a pretty good job of raising your kid and he still goes bad. In reverse, I’ve seen kids who grew up in the absolute worst environments turn out great.

The problem could be in our genes, I don’t know. Even in families of more than one child, siblings can all be vastly different in their demeanor, and actions. To my way of thinking, these shootings boil down to someone making a decision that most of us wouldn’t dare to make and they make those decisions based on wrong outlooks on the world - we all see things differently.

I do have to believe that homes where there are divorces, absent dads or parents who just don’t pay enough attention to their kids are especially at risk. I’m not a psychiatrist I’ve just observed a lot of families. I know we talk about love way more than we practice it sometimes and I have been convinced for some years now that the one thing people (especially young people) need more than anything else is someone to just listen to them. They also need somehow, to learn how to forgive and to forget their grudges.

Sam and I hope somebody is going to be willing to wrap their arms around that shooter’s father and brother. They have to be hurting big time right now. Three bags of poop on killing others. That’s just not a good solution to solving one’s problems.