Violence and Communication

As I write this the nation is reeling from another act of multiple violence. A young man went into an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed 26 people, including 20 children and six adults.  This was after he had murdered his mother in their home. The act is gut-wrenching, maddening and as tragic as any other one can name. It may seem a statement of the obvious, but perhaps one positive note in this is that what happened has unified the nation in a collective outrage against the act itself. The multiple slaughter of so many innocent children and adults has reenforced a desire on the nation's part that steps must be taken to stop such tragedies from continung to occur.

But this is where the agreement ends. Despite a universal condemnaion of the act itself, there is wide and emotional disagreement as to what specific steps should be taken to help prevent such massacres. They range from expanding everyone's right to own and carry a firearm to banning weapons altogether to various perspectives falling into between the two extremes. Assuming for a moment that eventually some type of preventative steps will be agreed upon - and given the reality of our nation I recognize this is a a big assumption -  a key element in the debate and ultimate solution revolves around communication.

The key here is found in the killer. Our nation has experienced enough of these incidents to create a composite profile on the characteristics of persons who carry out such awful acts. While the killers, including this most recent one, are described as having histories of odd and anti-social behavior, they have also been described has having trouble connecting with others and, consequently, not had many others reach out to them. Thus, feelings of isolation dominated their persona. As communicators all of us need to be more sensitive in how we act and/or behave around others, especially those who may seem unlike us. Even so-called loners need the acceptance of others. As communication is an act of inclusion, perhaps that is one step we communicators can take when interacting with others of all stripes and persuasions.