compassion and not judging
Yesterday here in Halifax the police announced that they had arrested 2 people, a 20 year old local young man and a 23 year old woman from the USA. A 19 year old man had killed himself thursday evening when the police came to a residence to arrest him. These young people had apparently been plotting to go to a public place and shoot a lot of people and then kill themselves. No they are not muslim or apparently following any other extreme religious or political doctrine. Today the police elaborated that their target was a large mall, the one where my youngest son works as a security supervisor. I was sick and horrified, trying to imagine why somebody would want to do this. But wait it gets better. Late this afternoon I found out that I know the mother of the 20 year old young man:( She is not a close friend but somebody I have know casually for a number of years. My husband knows her husband too as he is a fervent linux computer person.
I don't know the details of his life situation, the suspect that is, if he was still living at home or not or what. The 19 year old who killed himself was the best friend of the other young man. The mother of the suspect is completely in a state of horror and shock and disbelief.
The moral of the story, as they are so found of saying, is that nobody knows the whole story. I have no idea how this young man who grew up here in halifax came to a place in his life where it seemed like a good plan to get guns and plan to kill random people in a mall and then kill yourself. The parents are a bit odd but not in the kind of way that one might suspect that their son would turn into some kind of psychopathic killer. But then that is usually the way isn't it:(
So I am so glad, no beyond glad, I am ecstatic, that the police prevented this from happening, my son's life might very well have been in danger. But I am also rocked back on my heels and reminded not to judge and to hold a space for compassion for others who are suffering.
I hope that these 2 young people arrested can move beyond just being labeled "murderous misfits" and get their lives headed in a different direction.
And please remember to hug those you love and tell them that you love them every single day. My son is at work today at that mall.
[ETA: These young people were so called columbiners influenced by the shootings at Columbine HS in Colorado. The 20 year old has not been living at home since graduating from high school a couple of years ago]
I don't know the details of his life situation, the suspect that is, if he was still living at home or not or what. The 19 year old who killed himself was the best friend of the other young man. The mother of the suspect is completely in a state of horror and shock and disbelief.
The moral of the story, as they are so found of saying, is that nobody knows the whole story. I have no idea how this young man who grew up here in halifax came to a place in his life where it seemed like a good plan to get guns and plan to kill random people in a mall and then kill yourself. The parents are a bit odd but not in the kind of way that one might suspect that their son would turn into some kind of psychopathic killer. But then that is usually the way isn't it:(
So I am so glad, no beyond glad, I am ecstatic, that the police prevented this from happening, my son's life might very well have been in danger. But I am also rocked back on my heels and reminded not to judge and to hold a space for compassion for others who are suffering.
I hope that these 2 young people arrested can move beyond just being labeled "murderous misfits" and get their lives headed in a different direction.
And please remember to hug those you love and tell them that you love them every single day. My son is at work today at that mall.
[ETA: These young people were so called columbiners influenced by the shootings at Columbine HS in Colorado. The 20 year old has not been living at home since graduating from high school a couple of years ago]