Active Shooter Situation at Ohio State

[Catholic_Lady]

I don't think his body should be disrespected. I also don't think we should be happy he died versus just relieved the threat is eliminated. There is a difference between the 2. I think it's sad that he had to die. Justified as defense of the innocent, yes, but still sad that it had to happen.

However, when I hear of someone trying to commit mass murder, the first thing that pops into my mind is definitely NOT "I feel so sorry for him." I feel much more sorry for the victims and I feel angry at the attacker.

I'm with you 100% right up until the last sentence. I think feeling angry at the attacker is natural and understandable. But I've gotten to the point where I try to resist the urge do that. I resist it for two reasons. First because me getting angry about it does nothing but make me feel bad. But second I resist anger because I've come to realize that almost everyone has a story and as often as not once that story is known and understood, it simply becomes much more difficult to hold as much anger.

Don't get me wrong. I am not excusing what this person did. I'm simply saying that in many cases there is a story that helps explain why the person did what they did and that why is often something much more complex than they were just a psychotic asshole. That person who did this was still a person. Was that person in need of help? Did that person seek that help only to be blocked from getting it? Tell me the whole story first. Then if its still warranted, I will get angry. 


All that aside if there is anything about this event that warrants anger without further investigation, it is quite possibly this. This person was a Somali refugee living here legally. If he accomplished nothing else today he most certainly single handedly insured that any push to block any future refugees from entering this country just got a metric shit ton more fuel. He may have thought he was targeting Americans, but he most definitely just skull fucked thousands of Syrian refugees.

I get what you're saying, and I agree with the "love your enemies" stance. But I don't think that extends to not feeling angry about injustices. We can respect someone as a human being and even refrain from being judgmental of them, while still being angry for the horrible injustice they committed against innocent people.