A Fundamental Question

Two students were shot dead in their dormitory early this morning, by a gunman, who some two hours later, killed another 30 in a classroom at Virginia Tech University. There will, no doubt, be questions about the slow response of the University to warn students after the first shooting, whether the police investigation could have been more efficient and perhaps prevented or limited the second. And there will certainly be broader questions about gun control once more information is released on the weapons used, and how they were acquired.

But I have a different question that’s probably unanswerable, but for me it cuts to the heart of the situation. How can someone get up in the morning (or night or whenever) and say to himself, ‘Today’s the day I am going to go out and kill dozens of people”? There are certain situations, where I believe I could kill. To defend myself, or others, against attack and maybe even for certain principles in an armed conflict.

But considering such situations doesn't help me make the conceptual breakthrough to understand how someone could do such a thing as this unknown man did today. Religions, ideologies, and patriotism are among the motives that have inspired men to do terrible things, and continue to do so. Maybe we’ll find one of those (or something similar) at the core of today’s tragedy. Because, to me, hatred is so personal and life so precious, that taking 'revenge' by killing 20 or 30 of your fellow human beings in an hour or two, many of whom will have no idea as to why they're dying one morning defies my understanding.

And sure, there's an 'easy' answer that passes this off as the result of some form of mental illness only conceivable by the insane. But that then begs the question how could such a person, possessing such malicious forethought as to plan this kind of deed, possibly pass himself off as a sane human being between the time he conceived such horror and when he executed it?