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Evil wears a human face

I have not yet weighed into the shooting that occurred in Las Vegas on Oct. 1. I couldn't last week because it would have been a rushed job to put it politely, and with new facts coming to light everyday, it is arguably still prudent to wait.
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I have not yet weighed into the shooting that occurred in Las Vegas on Oct. 1. I couldn't last week because it would have been a rushed job to put it politely, and with new facts coming to light everyday, it is arguably still prudent to wait.

However, as our focus shifts to other issues, I feel the need to make a comment now, before we prove just how short our memories can be.

First, I want to remind everyone that the weapons used in this latest atrocity did not clamber off the shelves, slither down the road, check into a hotel, load themselves, and then unleash death upon the unsuspecting crowd. Whatever your opinion on guns, the fact of the matter is a person, endowed with a body, mind and soul, killed fellow humans with these tools.

That is where we must begin, with the terrifying realization that a man possessing the same faculties we do came to believe he was justified in killing innocent people. Rhetoric that attempts to blame ideology or the tools he used for mass murder are rooted in denial of this basic truth.

Thoughts and things do not perpetrate evil, violence, and chaos - only people do.

This realization, though sobering, cannot paralyze us.

As one man cast death on his fellow humans, some individuals below chose to act courageously by evacuating or bandaging the survivors and wounded, even using their own bodies as shields for others against the onslaught. Many people lost their lives in this tragedy, while those who survived now carry physical and mental proof of the human capacity for good and evil in the same instance.

If we excuse the agency of the shooter, we excuse the agency of the heroes. It is our moral responsibility to acknowledge that we cannot believe in evil nor goodness if we do not believe in the human capacity to choose and act.

This is the lesson in every tragedy, great and small. It's what we're supposed to take to heart at the Remembrance Day service next month.

No political agenda can stop these tragedies from happening, as they are a result of our imperfect human condition.

It is a hard truth to face, but our only hope lies in taking seriously the responsibility to act with courage and justice as individuals.

What happened in Vegas cannot stay there; we saw what we are capable of doing, good and bad - how shall we choose to live?