The most traumatic thing about the tragedy in Lewiston is not the people killed or injured; it’s the trauma we all experience in knowing that absolutely nothing will change because the shooting has been accepted as “normal.” Anyone who has grown up in an abusive family, or who’s survived an abusive adult relationship, knows the real trauma results from the repeat of abuse, the over-and-over again nature of the painful crises that could be avoided if different choices were made, or if someone stepped in to alter the course of the victims.
But Americans accept these terrifying episodes as “business as usual.” And thus, the resultant PTSD feeling we all experience when it keeps happening and no one does anything to find a solution to end the abuse. Of course the solution is complicated. It isn’t just a question of mental illness resources (though that’s an excellent start) or how many guns people are allowed to own. The solution can only be found by going much deeper than that.
We need to understand why we’re so obsessed with guns; what’s behind our romanticism of the outlaw figure and the death these individuals bring; and how the “Don’t Tread on Me” attitude has gotten to the point some people value it over life itself. Mass shootings will continue to traumatize this nation until we begin to understand the answers to these and other questions concerning who we are as Americans, and the kind of future we deserve going forward.
Anne Rankin
Brunswick
Send questions/comments to the editors.
