The World Needs More Grown-Ups

Yet again, we find ourselves horrified and confused by an unprovoked shooting in a public place. We look for explanations, and someone or something to blame. We’re sure there must be a reason for these events, a way to understand their causes, and a means to prevent them in the future.

I don’t think so.

What we’ve learned over and over is that a small group of people — and even an individual — can cause widespread injury, death, and destruction, and with very little effort. The massacre of thousands of human beings in a single day is almost unimaginable, but such a thing has happened hundreds of times, in all regions of the world and in every century of recorded history. In the most recent decades, terrorists have reminded us repeatedly that no one is totally safe.

The natural question is, Why? What compels a person to step so…