Footnote

This will be shorter then usual – it is more a footnote to an earlier post. Last week I wrote on my blog about the man who gassed himself, his four year old daughter and his two dogs to get even with his ex-wife.

In the blog I wrote that I hoped the grandfather went for counseling because of the way he blamed himself and the amount of grief he displayed while on the phone with me. I should have mentioned that perhaps the grandmother and their daughter might also want to get counseling but, as I had dealt with the grandfather, I did not think about them.

Last night we had another suicide call – this time it was the grandmother who decided she couldn’t live with her grief. She left a suicide note, told her husband where they could find her body, and overdosed on pills. Luckily her husband and the ambulance arrived in time to save her and maybe now they can get the help they need.

Life is so fragile. We try to keep our balance but sometimes it is so very hard. Tragedy comes in so many forms and its ripple is felt by so many. I can’t imagine the grief that women must be feeling – I hope I never have to find out how I would react in a similar situation.

Like so many others, I take life for granted. I fully expect that not only will I see the next morning’s dawn but that everyone I love will as well. Someday, I’m going to be wrong.

Along with any broadening positive growth comes a broadening realization that we all stand on cracking ice. –Saint Luenza

Evil and Good

And if your friend does evil to you, say to him, “I forgive you for what you did to me, but how can I forgive you for what you did – to yourself?” –Friedrich Nietzsche

The residue of that book lingers with me. I have to ask myself, what makes a person a madman? Are they pretty much born that way? Some say it is a missing chromosome from the serial killers genetic code. Guess that means they aren’t really responsible for the actions. Other say it is their upbringing – but then wouldn’t every abused child become serial killers?

I guess I’d buy the first excuse faster then the second because who wants to believe someone would choose to be a serial killer? What, did they hear about Jack the Ripper and say to themselves “I want to be like him someday?”

Maybe it is a mixture of genetics and upbringing. Maybe more people are actually short this chromosome but, because they grew up in a nurturing environment, they never had the desire to kill. But, of course, that wasn’t the case with Ted Bundy who had what even he claimed was a decent childhood.

Maybe there is no excuse – maybe they are simply evil the way Mother Theresa was good. Somewhere along the way they decided to pursue death instead of life. Maybe killing is addictive like Kevin Costner’s character “Mr. Brooks” claims in the movie by that title. Maybe we should have a rehabilitation center to help the killers beat their addiction like we do alcohol and drugs.

I don’t know if we will ever fully unravel the mysterious mind of the serial killer. I like the evil idea though because it makes sense to me that if there are super good people in this world – there must be super evil ones as well. Everything is a balance.