(Cross Posted at The Line is Here)

Ian Coburn, a NIU Alumni, shares his views on the recent shootings. And I happen to find what he says quite in line with what I preach here.

"I am drained from these shootings, the feeling of helplessness they bring, the fear they create which hangs over every campus like a dark cloud, and the net cast out for causes which always comes back empty of solutions. Instead, it is filled only with speculation, blaming everything from video games to guns to the lack of legally concealed firearms to mental illness to Godlessness to the Internet. Shooters share three traits: they are unhappy, they blame others for their unhappiness, and they don't know how to express or deal with their problems within socially acceptable norms. It's not just shootings among youth that's on the rise; it's drug use, alcoholism and violence in general. More and more, our children are growing up in a culture of irresponsibility and blame (as an educator I have witnessed this first- hand), and are being taught that their community is responsible for their unhappiness. They are not learning how to function properly in their community or how to deal with their shortcomings. Whatever we do, little ears are listening, little eyes watching, and little minds forming. If you lose the Presidential election, the other guy cheated; 26,000 Patriots fans are contesting the Super Bowl, blaming inaccurate timekeeping for the loss; when schools punish student misbehavior, parents intervene by threatening to sue and schools renege; the most influential Presidential candidate plagiarizes and shrugs it off; simple games like tag are being outlawed because some students aren't as skilled as others. The erroneous message is that you don't have to learn to function within your community; rather, the community will change to cater to your needs and whims. In an increasingly complex world we are robbing our children of the tools they need to cope. The battles I fought on the playground and in school built my character, enabled me to deal with my shortcomings, and prepared me to face the realities of life and disappointment, leading to my successes. It is our culture to where we need to turn our studies to find a solution to shootings. An exceptional response strategy is not the solution. NIU taught us that; they are to be commended on their strategy and quick response but even that proved ineffective to stop bloodshed. I don't know if this statement will make a difference or circulate; I only know that I had to make it."

Humans are a difficult thing to comprehend. While we are social animals, we also have a streak of independence that forms the basis of who we are. Our self recognition sets us apart from the other animals we share this planet with.

What made America so great was our belief in the power of the individual. Freedom and liberty are not things you can have when you put the needs of the collective above the needs of the one. This has always been the failure of every form of socialism and communism.

Now that the hard work of building this great nation has already been done, it is disconcerting to see us slide into the false premise that we can succeed only if everyone gets the same outcome rather than keeping the playing field even. We dilute the successful by praising the failures. We punish the winners by splitting the spoils along the losers. And it is dishonorable and disgusting that we teach our children that they are to put the collective above their own needs.

When you raise your offspring to rely solely on the village to provide for them everything, when you tell them that nothing is their fault and that, like success, blame is to be spread across everyone equally, don't be surprised to see the village burn with their failures as well.