Eight Year Old Murderer???

Am I the only one confused by the way the world is going right now? I am not talking politics or economy or Barack Obama... but what is going on with people today? How do you go from attending your third grade classes to shooting two adults with a .22? I just don't get it.

I have heard the news accounts and read the Arizona Republic article on this child, and I just don't know what to think. Did he do it? Was he coerced into admitting it because the two adult interrogators put the pressure on? He never really admitted to doing it, he just said he thinks he did because the men were suffering from wounds inflicted by an unknown attacker. My words, not his. Obviously, he would have told the story in eight year old verbiage, which I think makes the whole thing that much more sad. At one point he said, "... I went upstairs and I saw him. And there was blood all over his face. And I think I touched him. I just kind of checked to see if he was a little bit alive." Can someone who says "a little bit alive" really be a cold blooded killer? And more importantly, if this little boy whose life should be Ninja Turtles, soccer and the Diamondbacks became a killer, the key question is why?

He owned the .22 because he was a hunter. It was given to him by his father. So that begs the question, should we be training little children to hunt? I know hunting was prevalent among all ages in the past and blah blah blah, but in the past you hunted for food, not sport. Even the kid's story of "they were suffering so I was putting them out of their misery" is a hunting idea. Wound the deer, track the deer, shoot the deer to kill it. But then again, lots of kids hunt and don't kill their parents. Is it video games, violence on tv, a lack of parenting and teaching right from wrong? Did his dad not give him enough attention, did someone give him the wrong attention? I'm not asking to find someone to blame for this little boy alone. I don't want to point to Uncle Greg and say, "Oh, so its your fault," glad that settled. In truth, this kind of thing is happening more and more, so if Uncle Greg is to blame for this little boy, who do we blame for all the others? Really... how does this happen?

This little boy is not the only one. You have that Florida woman who allegedly killed her daughter, but then staged it as a kidnapping. Obviously, she was a grown adult and not a child, but that doesn't change the insanity that is taking over. What is happening in your psyche to decide that its time to murder your child. Andrea Yates, are you reading this, because I just don't get it. I don't even know the details of this Florida case, but I know its weird and obviously sick and wrong. What makes a person just decide to murder their daughter that day? Is there no regard for consequences? Does she not know right from wrong or just not care? If you are not cut out for parenthood, can't you find a better solution than that? Did she just not have a support structure to turn to for help or was she so far gone she didn't even recognize that she needed help until it was too late?

I don't know. I want answers, though, and I am not sure who can give them to me. How 'bout a show on this Dr. Phil? You seem to know exactly what to do about people brainwashed by religious cults, serial shoplifters and binge eaters. Let's turn your "expert" eye onto something just a wee bit more important. I am not an expert on anything and I realize this blog entry is not very clear, and I further realize I have no profound commentary that will open our eyes and say... hey, that's the answer. But I really think this is a question that needs to be out there. How does this happen and what are we going to do to make it stop?