Evil...How we use this word

We mourn collectively but we assign Evil individually.

In the aftermath of the massacres at Virginia Tech, the media again becomes an electronic hearth to gather us all and purge a nation's litany of social issues, examine what happened, assign responsibility and determine if the word "Evil" applies.

Being older now, having lived a bit, traveled alot, known many and set aside much of my liberal education, I still must ask some questions before assigning the word Evil.

Because Evil=Satan and the Satan has a very specific agenda, no remorse, no conscience, doesnt suffer. The Satan doesnt get depressed, isn't preoccupied with rich kids versus poor kids, social injustices or write graphically violent plays. The Satan doesn't take warped segments of a particular religion and use them in twisted sentences to write a manifesto explaining his thoughts before taking other lives.

Human beings do these things. Humans who have suffered in ways beyond their individual capacity to endure further suffering. Humans who cannot bear the deafness that meets the pain devouring their insides and minds. Humans who cannot tolerate the physical and psychic pain of depression that finds no relief.

We do not yet know the medications this boy was taking. Depression medication incorrectly prescribed can take a depressed person, young or old, to the brink of suicide and to a mental precipice so-called 'normal' people cannot ever comprehend. A country that cannot offer sanctuary and treatment for the vast numbers of mentally ill, mild or severe, that still looks at any mental issue as a stigma, a culture indisputably immersed in violence and sexuality, where wealth defines human value and status, such a country might well question where responsibility lies when a member of its society does not, cannot or will not fit in...and then breaks down.

If we continue to think of one person's capacity to destroy lives without apparent reason, as something only The Other could do and all responsibility lies solely on him, not any one of us, we forget many lessons in history...and those who choose not to remember the lessons of history, are doomed to repeat them.