There is, of course, no certain antidote, no simple way to predict its occurrence, no magic cure for the pathologies that make it possible in the first place. The fact there is no perfect solution cannot be used as cover for doing nothing. The country is far from powerless. – New York Times editorial
I often play the role of the ‘token American’ for friends, family and colleagues. Since moving North of the Border, I have been quizzed on everything about my home country, from the size of our university football stadiums to, most recently, the political rise of Donald Trump. But when events like last week occur, and I am asked sincere questions about the mindset of my homeland, I am saddened, frustrated and embarrassed. And I have no answers.
Last week, the United States, yet again, paused to mourn the deaths of those gunned down in another school shooting. On Oct. 1, nine people were killed by a lone gunman at Umpqua Community College, a rural college south of Portland, Ore. It was the 45th school shooting in the United States – this year.
‘Why does this keep happening in your country, Jason?’
I have no idea. And I don’t know if there are four more frustrating words to say in that moment.
The words from the opening paragraph above summed up the helplessness felt by myself and millions of others watching reports of yet another school shooting on the news. The problem is, those words were first published in the New York Times on April 25, 1999, in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre.
We have repeated this scene so often that even the editorials are now interchangeable.
Yes, there were school shootings prior to Columbine. But that was ‘the one’ many believed would change everything. But it changed nothing. Since that day, many other tragic events heralded change which never came. More than a decade later, in 2012, 20 grade school children were slaughtered in their classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School. That was surely ‘the one’ that would change everything. But it changed nothing.
And now, Umpqua Community College takes its turn as ‘the one.’ But it will change nothing.
There have been 142 school shootings in the United States since Sandy Hook; that’s nearly one a week. Overall, the United States hasn’t gone more than eight days without a mass shooting in 2015 – 296 mass shootings in only 281 days (that includes multiples shootings often in a single day).
From a culture that allows this to happen, I have come to expect few answers and even fewer solutions. The United States has decided that inaction is preferable to challenging powerful forces or, seemingly, unsolvable social issues. And so, the numbers mount and the people numb to a tragic chill as the story is repeated over and over again.
For those of us on campuses, these are jolting moments. Schools are targeted because we train the best and brightest for a better future. This is a future many of these killers have felt they did not have and, therefore, looked to rob from the rest of us. Perhaps we seek answers to this issue more than most.
I know a lot of things. I know this isn’t just a single-source problem, but addressing guns would be a good start. I know I am not going back to raise my family. Not now. Maybe not ever. And I know it won’t be the last time I am asked ‘Why does this keep happening in your country, Jason?’
Maybe someday I’ll have an answer.