To call it every parent's nightmare would not be stretch.
A man walks into a schoolyard, a restaurant – a movie theater this time – and opens fire. Kills proficiently. Kills indiscriminately.
It has been planned for weeks, maybe months.
Logistics squared, weapons procured, location selected.
The only thing the gunman doesn't seem sure about on occasions like these are exactly who he is killing.
Not that it seems to matter.
The purity of the act of murder seems to be the exclusive point. The actual identity of the victims is moot.
Their back stories, their families, their hopes and dreams and plans – all different, all unique and magnificent in their own way. Of no matter.
The only thing they had in common was a desire to be the first of their friends to see The Dark Knight Rises.
When we find out why it happened, will anyone feel better? Feel closure? Feel safer?
This is more than Colorado's problem, of course. Fear and apprehension travel swiftly in an environment like this, with lasting implications.
What now, you wonder? When do the copycats strike?
Columbine was 13 years ago, and only last fall, there was a copycat attempt at North Shore High School in Slidell.
So what to do?
Not go to movies anymore?
Caving to fear seems worse than living amidst it.
Moviegoers across America seemed to confirm this, showing up for the Batman movie in droves, driving it to No. 1 at the box office, likely not so much as a willful statement of resilience and unity – but just because they wanted to see The Dark Knight Rises, escape into some fantasy for a few hours.
Maybe even to forget their worries.
Life goes on.
For those who survived, that is.
This is where the commentator – that would be me – intones the gravity of the "dark nights rising" ahead in our hearts, our minds, our souls. Our communities.
I have no such dire warnings. No such dread.
With our collective consciousness burnished anew with images of slaughter we can make no sense of, of terror created in the minds and deeds of the lost souls who live amongst us, we carry on.
It's neither the price paid for liberty, nor freedom nor democracy.
It's just life in America.
Life in the modern world.
Which can be much scarier than the movies.
AP Photo/Denver Post
