Please don’t judge until you read the whole story. I’m a retired educator (teacher, principal, and adjunct college math instructor). I've also worked with unemployed youth & adults to provide them the skills and education so they could get and keep jobs.
He’s been described as a “14 year old in an an adult’s body.” I know him. I taught him. I was his principal.
(Though I didn’t know “him” literally, I knew many like him.)
This was, evidently, a disturbed man whose mental and/or emotional disabilities caused him to make juvenile decisions or to have been enticed by others to participate in criminal actions. We may never know which. It’s been reported that he perceived D. Trump as a “father figure.”
How sad is that??
It doesn’t matter. The bombs were delivered, perpetrated by a lone man. He created a horrible, terrifying sequence of events that could have been devastating for many. I am not in any way condoning what he did, nor do I believe he shouldn’t be held accountable.
I do, however, believe he (and many others) might have been saved had it not been for the unconscionable acts under the Reagan administration when multitudes of mental health facilities were shut down. Sending occupants home to families ill-equipped with the expertise to deal with their loved ones who struggled with reality or didn’t have the financial means to offer and monitor medications that often help or to face their problems on their own was ill-conceived at best.
Mental/Emotional illnesses can be treated. As pissed as I was when I first heard what happened throughout the week or so before the subject was identified, my heart broke when I read the reports from his family and their lawyer. I KNEW him. I knew him when he was in elementary school.
“HE” has many names and faces. They are not all domestic terrorists nor are they are all perfect, either (just as we aren’t). “THEY” cannot help their mental/emotional illnesses. But, with help, many can overcome the darkest sides of their mental/emotional struggles and live productive lives—with our assistance and tolerance.
I pray for peace for all who were targeted, but I also send prayers for the families whose son/brother/cousin/nephew/grandson was involved in this. We, the people, have allowed “him” to not have a chance.
Let’s give all the “hims” and “hers” the best care they need so that we can all live in peace.