I’d written about the Newtown school shooting in my Journal entries for December 15, 16, and 17 of last year, and again on January 10th 2013...
After my last entry, I thought it would be the last of my comments. But, alas, several letters from various individuals have caused me to address the tragedy once more.
I was asked by different people if I thought this event could have been prevented. Frankly, I don’t know why anyone would ask me about this in the first place, as I am not a professional on human behavior. But, in my opinion, I would say, yes, more than likely, this horrific event was preventable.
I believe, had there been another pair or two of eyes watching young Adam Lanza, I think the shooting would not have happened. Had at least a few other individuals been close to Mr. Lanza, or at least around him often, they would have (hopefully) seen his increasing social isolation, and his deteriorating mental health. Assuming, of course, he was indeed showing such signs.
Sadly, because Adam was socially isolated - even nearby neighbors said they hardly ever saw him outside the home - there was therefore no one around who was close enough to see anything amiss.
Adam’s mother, however, who was no doubt a loving and caring single parent, was perhaps too close to him, and too protective of her son to have seen the obvious. Oftentimes, those who are closest to the person who commits a horrific act of violence, will insist they were taken by surprise. They swear they did not see it coming.
I think that without those other pairs of eyes to have possibly seen that something was very wrong with Mr. Lanza, there was little chance of anyone reaching out to him to try to steer him towards those who could have helped him. Instead, he was alone most of the time, a ticking time bomb, a young man full of obvious rage.*
We will never know this for a certainty, as it is now too late. For now, we can only speculate on what might have been if Adam Lanza had been more exposed to the eyes of family members, friends or neighbors. The sad reality is, Adam Lanza was an altogether invisible young man.
As for the Newtown school shooting, we can only grieve and guess at what could have been done to have prevented this from happening. I believe more eyes would have helped. We’ll never know.
D.B.
* I wrote about Adam Lanza’s long-simmering rage in my January 10th Journal entry.
I was asked by different people if I thought this event could have been prevented. Frankly, I don’t know why anyone would ask me about this in the first place, as I am not a professional on human behavior. But, in my opinion, I would say, yes, more than likely, this horrific event was preventable.
I believe, had there been another pair or two of eyes watching young Adam Lanza, I think the shooting would not have happened. Had at least a few other individuals been close to Mr. Lanza, or at least around him often, they would have (hopefully) seen his increasing social isolation, and his deteriorating mental health. Assuming, of course, he was indeed showing such signs.
Sadly, because Adam was socially isolated - even nearby neighbors said they hardly ever saw him outside the home - there was therefore no one around who was close enough to see anything amiss.
Adam’s mother, however, who was no doubt a loving and caring single parent, was perhaps too close to him, and too protective of her son to have seen the obvious. Oftentimes, those who are closest to the person who commits a horrific act of violence, will insist they were taken by surprise. They swear they did not see it coming.
I think that without those other pairs of eyes to have possibly seen that something was very wrong with Mr. Lanza, there was little chance of anyone reaching out to him to try to steer him towards those who could have helped him. Instead, he was alone most of the time, a ticking time bomb, a young man full of obvious rage.*
We will never know this for a certainty, as it is now too late. For now, we can only speculate on what might have been if Adam Lanza had been more exposed to the eyes of family members, friends or neighbors. The sad reality is, Adam Lanza was an altogether invisible young man.
As for the Newtown school shooting, we can only grieve and guess at what could have been done to have prevented this from happening. I believe more eyes would have helped. We’ll never know.
D.B.
* I wrote about Adam Lanza’s long-simmering rage in my January 10th Journal entry.
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