Why

It is impossible to make sense of the killing of twenty-six innocents in Connecticut this week. As a parent myself, I can’t begin to imagine the horrific pain the parents of those twenty children are experiencing. It seems so senseless.

It is easy to let our emotions dictate our response to a situation like this. It is almost impossible to not do so. It is important that we all remember that this is not the first time an atrocity like this has taken place nor, unfortunately, is it likely to be the last.

Mental illness is not something that we can will out of existence anymore than we can will cancer eradicated. The sooner we remove the stigma surrounding mental illness, the sooner we can start finding solutions to a problem that affects over 60% of us. Only through understanding will we begin to be able to address these problems we face as a society.

Our world is a little less bright today. My heart goes out to the families who suffered such an inconsolable loss. As much as our curiosity draws us to make sense of what could cause a person to commit such an atrocity, let’s not let our curiosity 'glorify' the individual. Sick or not, no one deserves that. Remember the victims.

“Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all.” - Bill Clinton (b. 1944)