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Let Us Hope This Is Correct

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DJH
DJH
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 6:57am

Motive?
.
Current circumstances are creating situations where despairing people might be easily taken advantage of to go on highly dangerous missions, concocted by unsavory people who would rather not soil their own fingers with blood-letting violence.
.
Just a thought.

David Spaulding
David Spaulding
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 7:45am

Reports suggest he was a normal, stable guy until about six months ago. Social isolation and constant anxiety are not excuses for suicide, particularly using a bomb to do it in an area where others may be hurt but we’ave seen some really, really bad consequences of these lockdowns and the attendant, unmitigated message of fear from every quarter.

It will be interesting to see what, if any, impact that had on this mess.

Art Deco
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 8:04am

He had five proximate relatives, of whom two have died in the last few years. He and his siblings had one child between them. It appears for now that he’s lived in that suburban house for 30-odd years, all alone except for his pets. The block he lives on appears to be remarkably low turnover. The Tennessee papers interviewed two near neighbors who moved in in 1994 / 95. He was a self-employed contractor, though apparently had only one active client at the time of his death. It’s not clear what his relationship was to the woman to whom he deeded his house last month. He’s been a party to other quit-claim transactions. She’s evidently acquainted with him in some way, but not informed until after he’d died that she was now the owner of his house. No friends have emerged from the woodwork; his neighbors say he was transactionally pleasant and that was it. His pets had died one by one over the years. An elderly man all alone is the echt suicide. Wish he hadn’t done it in such a way as to generate such wreckage and expense for others (as well as putting three police officers in the hospital), but at least he didn’t kill anyone out the door. There is something amusing about having Petula Clark playing betwixt and between the warnings.

Art Deco
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 8:08am

Reports suggest he was a normal, stable guy until about six months ago.

I think you mean unobtrusive. A 63 year old childless bachelor may be a dozen different things; normal he is not.

Nate Winchester
Nate Winchester
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 8:30am

Well thanks, @art. Good to know you consider elderly priests abnormal.

I think I heard a relative of his was fired from at&t. May have felt like avenging them.

David WS
David WS
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 9:09am

Some media outlets are now spinning this as “an example of violent white supremacy due to Trump falsely claiming the election was stolen”.

Honestly the word “contempt” is way too weak to describe the media.

Foxfier
Admin
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 9:14am

Gee, Nate, how dare you reject someone’s knee-jerk judgement, even if two minutes worth of searching would’ve shown it false?
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2016/demo/families/cps-2016.html

Good heavens, there’s more never married single male households than divorced, separated, and widowed, combined– but totally not in the range of normal. Twice as common as a never-married common law marriage, but yeah they’re not normal. -.-

Since BOTH of my parents were assumed by family to be headed to the “never married” grouping– my dad’s family in particular was quite salty about not getting their presumed take-care-of-the-family-farm eternal bachelor, although mom’s was probably rejoicing over escaping her as the maiden aunt schoolmarm– it’s not even something new. More common when there’s bigger families, but not even new.

David WS
David WS
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 9:47am

Elderly priests are Fathers.
Bachelor men seem to die young.

(that’s been my experience.)

Tom Byrne
Tom Byrne
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 10:27am

As a 63-year-old bachelor schoolteacher, I take exception to the “weird” comments. What strikes me as weird about this guy is not his marital state or age, but his lack of connection to other real persons. I have my dad (85), sisters, four nieces and nephews and now a grandnephew, and connections to my parish and of course my school. This guy had pets and whatever he may have looked at as an IT guy online (with might prove VERY interesting).

David Spaulding
David Spaulding
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 10:27am

I worry about the lonely. I’ve known happy people who lived alone and know older folks who are in that situation. I don’t think everyone has to have someone sharing their living space to be healthy and happy but those who thrive without emotionally intimate contact are probably unusual. Maybe it is just that I don’t know any.

I DO think that the forced isolation, coupled with unmitigated fear from multiple quarters, is causing injury. I see it in my family, friends, and colleagues. Few of us do well in this situation, myself included.

My father died this year and this is my mother’s first Christmas without him. Where would she be if her family had adopted the all-to-often accepted approach of physical isolation for months on end? For those without intimate family, it has got to be a particularly trying time and it will be interesting to see what, if any, effect this reality had on this situation.

Dale Price
Dale Price
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 10:35am

It looks like no one will have a lasting injury, thank Heaven.
As to the perpetrator, the events of the past nine months have done done damage to most people’s mental health in some way. An elderly single man with no children, a dwindling handful of peer relatives and occupational prospects nearing zero is not in a good place to start with. Throw in the pandemic and the only thing that is surprising is the dramatic nature of the suicide. The fact he broadcast a warning suggests his moral sense had not been entirely snuffed. Prayers for his soul, the injured, and for those whose livelihoods have been harmed by the destruction.

David Spaulding
David Spaulding
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 10:49am

(Well said, Dale Price.)

Art Deco
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 10:52am

and occupational prospects nearing zero is not in a good place to start with. Throw in the pandemic and the only thing that is surprising is the dramatic nature of the suicide.

He’s lived in the house long enough to have paid off the mortgage and he could afford an RV. Not sure what sort of income he received from the real estate firm for which he was working at the time. He was two years away from Medicare eligibility. Not hard to locate people whose occupational prospects are worse than were his.

Art Deco
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 10:59am

Well thanks, @art. Good to know you consider elderly priests abnormal.

Your asking them for a lifelong sacrifice. People willing are not normal. You just hope that abnormality is correlated with other good things.

The young face a different set of facts on the ground than do the previous generation, and there’s been a catastrophic fall in marriage rates in the last 20 years, to the point where about 30% can expect to go through their lives unmarried. If you’re looking at people born prior to about 1975, about 95% have a marital history.

David Spaulding
David Spaulding
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 11:27am

I choose not to generalize here and assume only that some people share my experience with having economically peaked.

I found it to be a shock that I’ve likely accomplished all I ever will in material prosperity. I’m 51 and I just figured it would take longer to reach the top of my career and that my “top” would be, well, higher. To be sure, my efforts might suddenly change things due to alignment of circumstances but, absent some providence here, I’m probably where I will be when God calls me home.

This isn’t so bad. I’m married to a wonderful woman and have great kids. I’m deeply and happily embedded in my community through a fine parish and through friends who satisfy my emotional and intellectual needs.

I am gretly blessed but I wonder if I would feel this way if those other things weren’t good.

Suppose my career were going nowhere, I didn’t have a loving family, wasn’t welcome in society, and were subjected to the same pressures we all are through the pandemic and its protocols? Would I be a nutcase, just blunder along, or be spurred to reach out? I don’t know.

I DO know that all of that emotional intimacy works great good in me and makes the lack of success OK. It is easier for me to say that life IS good and that it’s OK I didn’t achieve even a smattering of my dreams because so much unlooked-for and undeserved good, through the people God placed in my life, surrounds me.

I’m sorry for those who don’t have this and I wonder if this poor soul isn’t one of them.

Foxfier
Admin
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 11:44am

Dale-
not sure if you read According to Hoyt, but a rather gruesome loss in the “would usually touch base with people, but because of the shutdowns nobody noticed he wasn’t talking to ANYBODY” was discovered a few weeks ago:
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2020/12/21/send-up-a-smoke-signal/

Nobody notices the people who are fine without deep networks, just need some sort of contact– a lot of us have learned to identify the depression setting in, and go be around people, and then it’s fine again.

Dog people, vs cat people. The dog has to be all over you to be “around you.” The cat will completely ignore you because there’s no need for interaction…but just happen to be in the same room that you are, all the time.

My family has always had “alone together” nights, where we’ll be in the same room, enjoying the presence of others, but reading or crafting.
This drives the if-we-are-in-the-room-you-MUST-actively-interact-with-me people absolutely bonkers.

Dale Price
Dale Price
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 11:58am

“Not hard to locate people whose occupational prospects are worse than were his.”

True. But in the absence of the consolations of wife and family, a productive job can be a huge psychological boost for a man. And he was down to one customer/client? We’ll probably never get a fully-satisfying answer this side of the veil, but I just think it was a factor, if not what struck the match.

This level of premeditation and planning shows that something had been wrong for quite some time.

Dale Price
Dale Price
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 12:07pm

Foxfier:

I always like Sarah when I read her, but I don’t as often as I should.

That was absolutely heartbreaking. Yes, have a network and stay plugged into it. Notice who isn’t plugging in and be proactive in reaching out.

The loneliness of so many people in our “social” world is staggering.

Art Deco
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 12:15pm

This level of premeditation and planning shows that something had been wrong for quite some time.

The quit-claim on his property he signed on 25 November, so several weeks at least. It may have been an option in his mind for some years. Again, childless.

SouthCoast
SouthCoast
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 2:44pm

“When you’re alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go Downtown…” As for AT&T, anyone else remember “Reach out and touch someone.”? Even loners get lonely. A tragic case of Covid cabin fever.

Philip Nachazel
Philip Nachazel
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 6:42pm

Thus far, all of you have mentioned the real possibility of lack of relationships, loneliness and no prospects in near future.

What hasn’t been mentioned is the relationship that truly matters most
His relationship with God.
Yes…thank God he called it in before severly injuring or killing someone.

But the fact of the matter is that he didn’t know how blessed he was. How much of an impact he had on the neighbors who didn’t know him but received a smile from him on occasion.

Where were God’s instruments?
Where were the ambassadors of Christ?

Let this tragedy be a clarion call for us to remember to smile at the neighbors, to engage them, even if its only small talk. Let us take away from this the importance of courtesy and our obligations to act on the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

How sickening I would feel if I had brushed him off on December 23rd when he asked me for directions, or a ride, or the use of my phone, or one of thousands of things that are opportunities to share brotherly love.
Did God place ambassadors in his path but they failed to represent Christ at a pivotal moment in a stranger’s life?

If anything good could come from this let it be a reminder to let Christ shine from you the next time your prompted.

God rest his soul.

Nate Winchester
Nate Winchester
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 7:30pm

Well said, @PHILIP NACHAZEL.

As I grow older, I realize that charity is not JUST money or aid, but the real human connection made between people. No amount of government aid can replace the simple act of two souls meeting. “It is not good for man to be alone.”

David Spaulding
David Spaulding
Monday, December 28, AD 2020 8:14pm

Philip Nachazel, your response is a charitable one and humbling. Thank you.

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