Normal

Early this morning a Florida woman shot and killed her four children, and then herself. Suicide is a tragedy, but these situations we read about from time to time where the one committing suicide takes out other people, usually loved ones, are especially disturbing.

The children's father had recently moved out of the home. The neighbors knew this was a troubled family, with allegations of domestic violence, Mom against Dad, Dad against Mom, and teenage Son against Mom. A couple of the kids had threatened to burn down a neighbor's home. On one occasion, they shot a BB gun at it.

Kyle Hightower of the Associated Press reported on this tragedy, and it's early so all the details are not out yet. Certainly the kids' father is suffering terribly right now. The family's pastor, Jarvis Wash of The Real Church in Rockledge, Florida, spoke about the teenage son. He said he was involved in "normal stuff, I think he was punching walls or something like that." Normal?!

My immediate thought was, punching walls is not normal. Not normal. If your teenage son is punching walls, that is a big red flag that your family is in trouble and needs immediate help. I hope it's a misprint or a misquote. I hope Wash didn't really mean that punching walls is normal. It's not.

Except when it is. Whatever dysfunction children must live with, becomes in a way their normal. All we know is all we know.

The daily violence that takes place in America is horrific. When it is so prevalent that we become accustomed to it, when it is just part of the normal routine, when it becomes our normal, we must start to do something about it before it consumes us.

Susan