There is no justification for murder. Why the young men and boys did what they did is only an explanation, but it is an important, and thus far ignored, part of the equation. Those who would ignore the explanation are inviting more of the same because of the inactivity their disbelief breeds. It doesn't matter whether or not a person is justified in feeling the way he/she does. What matters is that the person does feel that way.
As we've seen time and again, people will sometimes act on those feelings in a violent way when they think they've run out of options. It doesn't matter that there were other options; it matters that they didn't see them. Even if someone did show them options (although there is no evidence to suggest any of the aforementioned shooters were afforded the services they needed), they didn't continue to work with them until a plausible option was found. Before this point is bemoaned, look at yourself and the choices you've made given the options you've had.
If you're still sitting in a dead end job that makes you miserable because quitting won't pay the bills, then you know what an implausible option feels like. I'm not comparing the situations or the consequences; I'm saying you know what it feels like and how that feeling directly affected the decision you made. You can, therefore, now choose to stuff that unsettling feeling of empathy down deep inside or act on it to bring about positive change in your life and in the lives of others.
If your response is that you don't know what to do, then you also know what it feels like to feel helpless. If your response is that the shooters should have just dealt with it, then you obviously have ideas for dealing with stress that could help others, so then be kind enough to step forward and share with those who don't know what else to do. We are simply not as separate from each other as we would like to think we are - and good thing, too, because if we were, we wouldn't be capable of all the happiness and good fortune that we do have.
While water coolers and all manner of technology are abuzz with "Why did he do it?" I pose the question "Why are we just talking about it?" We don't like to think about things like this happening, much less have it plastered all over the front pages of our newspapers. That doesn't mean we should ignore it or make dead-end editorial comments in the aftermath without a plan to back it up. It means we should accept that other people, specifically children, feel differently and respond differently to the stress in their lives.
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