Some Kind of Monster

So it's happened again. The media says "echoes of Columbine. The media says he may have asked a student if they believed in God before he killed them. The media says that he may have favored Nazism. Of course they do. Anything to draw a line between us and this horror. A great chasm. Between us, the good American people and the monsters that perpetrate these horrible acts upon the innocent. We've been led to believe that separation is our defense instead of the cause of all this. I am not going to pretend that I know what was going on in his mind when he did what you did yesterday. Or what all the influences were, that swayed his decision to kill. But I do know who is to blame. I do know who failed. Who failed him. I have an idea.

First know that is wasn't Marilyn Manson. Or Ozzy Osborne or Snoop Dog. Nor was it God or the church. You can't even blame the devil. Not directly at least. It wasn't gansta rap or Hitler. It wasn't alcohol or drug abuse. It's not the violence that we see in our movies and television programs. Or in the video games we try to monitor for our children. It's not even the slack gun laws that we have in the United States. (Although I think they are deplorable. Please see Bowling For Columbine if you haven't already) What it boils down to is this - absence. Both physical and emotional. That is what is changing our children into monsters. Automatic says he was bored by Elephant, but he had to admit, it scared him. I think that Mr. Gus Van Sant has a clearer picture than anyone in the media of what is eroding our youth. We are.

I have a nine-year-old daughter. Automatic has a son. I think I can speak for him when I say that I am going to do everything in my power to love on my kid. To be there for her. To let her know how far I would go to protect her. What I would do for her well being. I look at Eric and Dylan, and what they did in Colorado, 6 years ago next month, and my heart hurts. Why did no one know what was going on with them? Why did no one care? What do I have to do to save my daughter from the same fate? I think I have to be there. Don't say it wont happen to your kid, because that's when things start to slip. Know that you have a weakness. We all do. And work on your child's life like it was your own. Some of us can't seem to get our head out of our own problems, much less be involved in our children's lives as much as we should.

What happened yesterday was horrible. What happened in Columbine was equally horrible. But it's not going to stop. It will keep going. Until we fight for the soul and hearts of our children. Without us, you might as well consecrate them to the evil one, because they are fucked for life. And that's what keeps happening. The media wants you to believe that these children, (because that's really what they are), are monsters. Evils that are beyond comprehension. That we can't understand. Here's what I understand about what happened yesterday in Minnesota:

His mother died of brain cancer.
His father killed himself because of it.
He lived with his grandfather.
His grandfather was busy. With his girlfriend.
He had troubles at school and worked from home.
He had no friends.
He was made fun of because he was different. Wore all black.
He was a 17 year old kid.

All the characteristics of a monster, right?
I don't want to be blamed for what happened yesterday. But if I don't make my daughter's life as important as mine...I don't really have a choice but to take some of that on myself.