(no subject)
On January 29, 1979, an Elementary School was under shotgun fire. During this first school shooting, a reporter started calling the houses in the area to find an eyewitness. At the house nearest to the building, a girl’s voice picked up. “Can you see what is going on at the school?” “Yes.” “Can you see where the shooting is coming from?” “Yes.” She gave the reporter the address of the house he was calling. “Who do you think is doing the shooting?” she asked.
During that phone call, Brenda Spencer gave the only interview at the time of her arrest. The reporter asked why she was doing this, she said “I hate Mondays. This livens up the day.” When asked who she wanted to shoot, she said “I like the red and the blue jackets best.”
I think everything she said after that has been a lie. At various parole hearings she blamed depression, her father, PCP. Unlike the rest of it, her first detachment, the unmistakable sound of a complete lack of remorse, was not taught. Something fundamental escaped to the surface: the lack of sacred meaning, inherent value that human life has. We are special only if we perceive it. We need to guard this illusion to guard ourselves. We like to think it’s physically impossible to gun down children.
If she is crazy, what does the word mean? Can we talk ourselves into crazy? What is she missing? Can she get well?