There are many adults, myself included, who are still coming to terms with the tragic events of Friday. I am still filled with an intense sorrow for the loss of life that occurred, most notably due to the age of the 20 children killed, but also due to the accounts of heroism that the teachers and school officials exhibited in the face of evil. Nothing can ever reverse what happened, but the questions are starting to come forth as to what caused this to happen, what were the underlying issues that sparked the rage within a young man and prompted him to carry guns into a school and kill as many people as possible? These questions aren't easy to ask, and for some, it is too early to ask those questions and face the reality moving forward. But for me at least, these questions have been at the forefront of my mind ever since the tragedy, and while some have put forth ideas that will serve as band aids, nobody has yet to address the true underlying issues at hand. Unless we deal with the underlying issues, the band aids will wear off, and nothing will have changed. These band aids I speak of are gun control, medications, and better security. In terms of gun control, I believe that we should restrict the amount of rounds able to be carried or put into a clip, but that in and of itself will not solve any problems. The term many of us have heard over and over again is, "guns don't kill people, people kill people." That statement is entirely true and unless we address the issues that people have who pick up these guns and commit these heinous acts, the killings will continue, with or without guns. Medications, in respect to those with disorders, handicaps, mental issues; are just a band aid that addresses the symptoms a person exhibits and never treats the underlying cause. Even worse, most of the mass killings have been committed by individuals who have been on medication, so obviously that doesn't work. And then there is the issue of security. We have increased security measures in schools after the shootings at Columbine in 1999, yet they did nothing to prevent the tragedy that took place on Friday as the individual broke into the school. We can't increase security to the point where schools become fortresses, and we shouldn't have to. There would be no need for increased security if we actually addressed the underlying issues that are rippling through our society. We, as a country, need to take a serious look at what is causing people to go literally berserk and act out against innocent people with a rage that should never engulf any individual.
First and foremost, we need to look at our society and what about our society that may be inducing people to rage and senseless killing. If you look long and hard at American society (which most of us don't want to do in a meaningful way), you will find that there is a general feeling of being stuck. The poor remain poor, the middle class can't move forward and often times seems to be sliding backwards, and the rich can't get enough for themselves. No matter what strata of society you look at, people feel stuck. But why is there this feeling that permeates our society that we can't move forward, if anything, only backward? A good part of that feeling is incited by our placement of unrealistic expectations upon everyone. There is this ethereal ideal that all Americans need to have a 2000 square foot house with a white picket fence, 2.5 kids, a dog, maybe a cat, and a good life. We are taught that once we achieve something, we need to push further and achieve more. Once we have that house, fence, etcetera, we then need a bigger fence with perhaps a gate. No matter what level we get to, we then need to start striving for the level after that and so on and so forth. Its absurd to think that people should perpetually drive themselves into the ground in search of this ethereal ideal. The problem, especially now in our economy, is that people can't move past where they are at, yet society still pushes them along. All this leads to a general sense, amongst all people, of being stuck. The poor can't move forward for obvious reasons, there is no more work that the middle class can do to propel themselves upward, and the rich can only suck so much money from the rest of us that even they are stuck. When people get stuck, the feeling of anger starts creeping in. Anger in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. It forces us to look for other options, it can be the catalyst for change, yet it can also, if left unchecked and allowed to build, lead to rage. Once someone is engulfed in rage, reality is altered and the only thing that matters to them is acting out, seeking revenge, and in many cases as it turns out, taking the life of others. If we don't start addressing the issues in our society that are fermenting, building, and getting out of control, the killings will unfortunately continue. The expectations that we are placing on everyone that they need to improve, make more, get more, and be more need to stop. Some people will never get beyond a certain point in life and we need them to realize that there is nothing wrong with that. The more we stigmatize those that don't move forward, the more we increase our chances of another tragedy visiting a small American town. Often times, those that feel stuck turn to doctors for an answer. Many are diagnosed with depression, anxiety, or some other problem that can be "solved" with medication. The more we medicate people, the more we increase the likelihood of a something bad happening. Medications, especially of the psychiatric type, are particularly volatile and affect the brain in ways that we still can't fully comprehend, often times leading to death in one form or another.
So why if people are feeling stuck, getting medicated to solve their issues, are things not improving? If medication is supposed to help people, then why are these mass killings being committed by people on medication? There is obviously something incredibly wrong when we keep turning to medication when that is obviously not the answer. The answer we need to be looking for is two fold. The first side of it is that we need to be more mindful of how we are raising our children, the expectations that we are placing on them, and the involvement with them of not just us, but our entire family and community. Until we start getting more involved in our children's lives, relying more on the community around us to help us instead of just ourselves, and altering our thinking on parenting, society, and what it means to live; nothing will change. Yet that is only one part of it. Society's take time to change and so do the people in them. We need to do something now to address the issues that people have that they are getting medicated for. What is the alternative to the main stream medical profession, especially psychiatry, that pumps our bodies full of medications that alter our minds and often times leads to bigger problems than they were originally meant to address? It is quite simple and I have talked about it before, principle chiropractic care. Most people consider the chiropractic profession to be only about dealing with back pain. Those that think that have been told only a partial truth. While chiropractic can and does address back and neck pain, the true purpose of chiropractic is much simpler than that. The true purpose of the chiropractic profession is to put a person's spine into alignment so that the nerves can freely carry messages from the brain to every part of the body. We all know the brain controls every part of the body via the nervous system. Is it any wonder that if a person's spine is out of alignment that part of their body will not function correctly? If the nerve that sends impulses to the part of the body that controls a person's blood pressure is pinched, will that person's blood pressure be correct? Probably not. But it goes beyond blood pressure to every function that our body performs, including our mental state that we all know is a mixture of chemicals produced in the body that work together to either make us feel happy, sad, depressed, etcetera. Is it any stretch of the imagination to think that if the young man who killed all the people on Friday had been seeing a chiropractor regularly and did not have the cocktail of meds that he had might not have killed all those people? I certainly don't think so, in fact, I would say that he would not have pulled that trigger (provided he had a loving, supportive family as well). I am not pushing my theories on anyone. People can do the research for themselves and see the truth as they want to. There is one story that I would like to share with you now was shared with me the day of the tragedy, before it even happened. It strikes me as more than coincidence in light of what transpired. And this is what I will leave you with today.
A patient had his consultation with my chiropractor during which they went over my doctor's expectations for him, the adjustments he would receive, and the course of action they would take. Upon completion of the consultation during which the patient had both his arms and legs crossed and barely uttered a word, my doctor asked him if he was ready to proceed and if he thought he could commit to it. The man said one word, "Sure." So he received his first adjustment that day with no effect. (Often times people will feel a sense of release after their first adjustment where this man had nothing). Five visits went by and nothing changed. Twelve and fourteen went by with no distinct difference. On the twenty second visit and consequently his twenty second adjustment, the patient came in and told the doctor a joke. The doctor, needless to say, was stunned as the patient who walked in did not resemble the man he knew before. He asked what changed and the man responded, "I just feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders and the stress in my life has been reduced." My doctor said, "That's great, lets get you adjusted." That time, the man had brought his son with him and in the open bay in which my doctor adjusts patients, he asked if the little boy, about 5 or 6 years old, would like to help. The boy came over and when he got right next to the table and my doctor was working on his father, he asked the little boy, "What changes have you noticed in your dad since he has been coming to get adjusted." The little boy thought for a second and without hesitation he said, "He has stopped hitting my mom." To this day, that entire family; father, mother, and son, are patients of my chiropractor. There were no medications prescribed, no surgeries performed, just the process of putting the spine into alignment so that the brain could send the signals it needed to the rest of the body. Take this with you, ponder it, see how it affects you, and try and justify to me that medications are the way to fix all problems. Just hear those boys words, for they could be any boys words, that said, "He has stopped hitting my mom."
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