The Devil Made Me Do It!

“The Devil made me do it!” Back when most parents still taught their children the significance of Heaven and Hell, youngsters would sometimes give this excuse a try. They knew that when they did something wrong that they would need a scapegoat, hopefully one that was universally despised and tough to interrogate. Luckily parents had an answer and referred to Matthew 4:1-11 among other Scriptures. When Satan tried to tempt Christ, Jesus made an individual decision of free will to respond “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve.” Clearly human beings own their destinies and can freely make decisions even when tempted very strongly.

Cho Seung-Hui’s confessions sound familiar. He blamed the world for his misery. Despite having the advantages of living in a country where he could eat regularly and have the opportunity to pursue a college degree, Cho believed he had the right to happiness. Where did he learn that? Is it a coincidence that school shootings started taking place about the same time that secondary education began emphasizing self-esteem and removing chances for honest competition? Self-esteem is developed through either winning or learning from losing. In a world with no winners and no losers, people have no method to build real confidence except through athletics. Even there opportunities are increasingly limited by school consolidation.

The Declaration of Independence promises all Americans the opportunity to pursue happiness, not happiness itself. Cho and so many other people are troubled because of the gap between the world they are taught, where people are always supposed to be happy and individuals own no responsibility for their lives, and the world as it is, where people struggle to face success and failure every day, learning to live with both.

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Is anyone else appalled by the sheer irresponsibility of the news media anymore? The same television networks that refuse to turn their cameras on morons that run onto the field during athletic events for fear of encouraging similar behaviors show this madman’s video manifesto. They reward him posthumously for killing over thirty people so that he could tell the world what a crappy place it was. Nice going. They will wonder why copycats will try the same thing and then blame gun manufacturers afterwards.