Fatigue-dressed madman kills 7 adults, too many children

The story is heartbreaking. Some excerpts:

“Photos from the scene show blood-splattered floors and walls … and blood-soaked bodies of victims, including the elderly and young children.”

“President Obama ‘was was informed this morning of the incident.'”

“U.S. officials were quick to condemn the attack.”

“President Obama extended his condolences to the people… and made clear his Administration’s commitment to establish the facts as quickly as possible and to hold fully accountable anyone responsible.”

That this event occurred in March in Afghanistan and the perpetrator is still alive, and not turned over to the Afghans for some retributive justice, is rather a shock. Of course, targeting of children by men in military uniforms isn’t a national policy?

Oh, but it is: “according to the Military Times, the US military includes children on their list of who they’re allowed to murder with impunity. …a Marine official here raised questions about whether the children were “innocent.” Before calling for the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System mission in mid-October, Marines observed the children digging a hole in a dirt road in Nawa district, the official said, and the Taliban may have recruited the children to carry out the mission.”

This is part and parcel of a culture that does not honor masculinity, and the guardian nature of men towards women and children. Do not blame the soldier in Afghanistan: did he sign up to murder innocents? He is exhibiting what a functional society would consider noble, the willingness to sacrifice self for group and country; our non-Patriarchal society spits on that impulse, mocks it, and redirects it towards nefarious ends.

In other news, a Connecticut woman “divorced her husband … in 2009, when (her son) was 17. ‘She didn’t have to work because my brother-in-law left her very well off,’ said Marsha. ‘As part of their divorce settlement she got the house.'” She was to receive over 200K in alimony per year until 2015, a time when her son would be old enough to care for himself. She and her husband “filed certifications of their completion of a parenting-education program, a Connecticut state requirement in divorce proceedings if the couple has children under the age of 18.”

Apparently, her son did not care to be so separated from his father and upbringing. We have no idea what was going through his mind, but he wound up shooting 7 adults, all women, starting first with his mother Nancy Lanza, and 20 children who had nothing to do with his personal rage at the world. He dared not face a place full of armed men, of course.

The Temple of Artemis was known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was destroyed by an arsonist who did so to garner fame, and the ancient Greeks sought to erase his name from history. Children are a blessing and a gift from God, and the body is the temple of the soul. We hope that no one will accord the murderer enough mental space to store the few characters of his name.