A Forest of Flaws put our Children at Risk,
but a Sea of Doubts Might Save Them

Maryland police arrested a mass-murderer before he attacked a school. The murderer taught us a lot. He was ordinary as mass murderers go. What was unusual was that the police in Rockville, Maryland included excerpts from the want-to-be murderer's manifesto. We've read similar stories from earlier murderers, but now we have their statements easily accessible for the public to see. If you read deeply, these statements also show us the difficult problems we need to face in order to protect our children at school and in public.

Most of us face and solve problems every day. We become at risk when we fail to solve the common problems that keep us safe and healthy. Today, we see our society face similar challenges from the problems we've ignored for too long.

Mass-murderers go through consistent stages. They first justify their actions. In this case, the murderer complained that his teachers were "evil" and classmates were "a$$holes" even as far back as elementary school. Mass-murderers routinely study other attacks and the news media's reaction to them.

The Maryland murderer wanted a record number of victims in order to get the publicity he craved. Mass-murderers expect to be killed during the attack or to take their own life immediately afterwards. In the recent case in Maryland, the murderer worried about spending his life in prison if he survived. .....