Friday, December 14, 2012, is the Day Evil Came To Newton, Ct! So said Connecticut Governor, Daniel Mallory.
The shooter, Adam Lanza, will be labeled as having a "Personality Disorder." A personality disorder is a type of mental illness in which you have trouble relating to people, so says the staff at The Mayo Clinic [see mayoclinic.com]
Just what is a mental disorder? Try as I might [at least online], finding the answer to this question is difficult and confusing. Terms are used without definition, while the explanations ramble on for several paragraphs or pages, clarifying and quantifying, until it's not really clear what was being said.
Discussion seems to center around the 'mind' [hence: mental] and the 'soma' [that part of the brain where the signals from the dendrites are passed along]. See how clear that is?
In layman's terms we're talking about a diseased or dys-functioning mind. We're not always sure WHY but we are reasonably sure the mind is disordered, much like a physical organ or system.
Of course, mental disorders cannot be cured. We can manage them; help you learn to cope, but you will always be broken. Think "Recovering Alcoholic." Were you a "drunk" we can fix that. But, now that you are an alcoholic, you will always be an alcoholic.
We may never know why Adam decided to shoot up an Elementary School eleven days before Christmas. Certainly, if mental health professionals could have gotten to him, sooner, perhaps these children and adults would still be alive.
Let me give you some food for thought.
Was it because Adam grew up in a divided household -- parents divorced, siblings separated?
Was it because a single Mother can't be with her children, except after work or on week-ends?
Was it because a Mother, being female, didn't really understand the male ego; the male psyche?
Was it because a testosterone-laden teen-ager, now standing eye-to-eye with Mom is hard to handle?
Was it because of the 12 years, or so, in State Schools, learning that his Self Esteem was valuable?
Was it because no one ever told him he was 'bad?' Never understanding the significance of that?
Was it because he could watch anything he wanted on TV, for as long as he chose to do so?
Was he using any drugs? Alcohol? Anti-depressants? Uppers? Downers? From the medicine chest?
Was he experimenting with other hallucinogens? Or simply staring at the wall for hours?
Was it because he could surf the 'net in the privacy of his own room, for hours at a time?
Was it the video games? Played alone, gratifying his Self?
Was it isolation or too many 'wrong' friends?
The List is long and growing, but you get the point.
Then there's Church. Did Adam go to church? Was he ever confronted with his sin? How much moral balance existed in his world? Was there any hope? Were there any people in his life who represented something different than his reality; something better? What was Adam's life like?
The answer? It was probably not unlike millions of teenagers and young adults all across this country. People living in a world that isn't real. Being told how special they are, regardless of the truth. Learning to accept a dismal life without parents, without structure, without values, without an education. Every day just like yesterday.
Adam was lashing out at his life; at his world. His mother was a School Teacher. Is that why he chose a School? Whatever Adam did, it made perfect sense to him. It was his only option. It turned out to be his final option, which was also planned.
The Community has rallied around Church and prayer. The Reporters and even some in the Mental Health Community are calling his deeds 'evil.' In a world that doesn't need religion and has outlawed the concept of inherent evil, this is a little schizophrenic.
Then I wonder, had he gone to Church, what would he have heard? That he was a sinner? Or that he just 'blew it' sometimes? Would he be confronted with a Gospel that required repentance? Or one that suggested he simply "let go and let God do His work in your heart?" I didn't pick these ideas and phrases out of the air. I hear them in the sermons being preached in churches today.
When things get worse, and they will, what will 21st Century Church-goers have to rely on? My guess is that it won't be much more than Adam did!
