Hi Mike,

I come from Venezuela, which is a country that looses on average 10,000 people every year to violent crime. It's been like that for maybe some 15 years now.

Killer sprees are mainly a US thing. I have no idea what it is with this country, but in the rest of the world, you're likely to be killed because someone wants your watch, you slept with his wife, or you wanted someone's watch and he was faster drawing his gun than you could shoot.

Until 10 minutes ago, I thought that these sprees are part of our nation's personality, but aparently they have happened in other nations as well. Nevertheless, the US is waaaaaay ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to people who just up and decides to go out and kill others for the heck of it.

It baffles me, that people here are extraordinarily honest, crime rates (by my standards are amazingly low - even in what you'd consider dangerous parts of town), yet, it's like the center of the universe when it comes to particularly gruesome crimes.

I haven't been able to understand it.

Alex

>I don't mean the rock band, those old geezers. Although being Keef for a day would be a hell of a lot of fun.
>
>It has been suggested that the U.S is a nation of restless rolling stones. People who were dissatisfied elsewhere and came here. There is some truth to that, although it is true as well that some of them made us the great nation we are. This is not a self-hating anti-U.S, screed,
>
>There are some things that make you wonder, though. Two mass shootings in two days. They might have happened if not for the easy availability of guns, but that isn't my point, either. There may be a screw loose somewhere in our national character.
>
>We are a big country in more way than one. A certain percentage of lethal rolling stones are to be expected. But this many? High schoolers? Columbine is a well to do suburb of Denver, allegedly the American dream. And yet.
>
>We are a nation of migrants, Hispanics being the latest wave. That much is clear. Most -- all -- of our achievements have come from immigrants. And yet the issue persists. And the question persists in my mind, what kind of people have made us? Personal histories encouraged.
>
>Now this is funny. I could not possibly have scripted it. A neighbor just rang the doorbell to invite me over to watch a boxing match on cable tonight. He and his wife moved here from Puerto Rico a long time ago. Their daughter Stephanie is as American as they come. She is the captain of the HS volleyball team -- Emily is a two year teammate and probable successor -- and a burst of pure energy. She is a natural leader and was the leader of this team, not only in ability but in attitude. And she is as American as Glenn Beck. Born and bred here. Ask her what a Spanish word means and you will get a stony look.
>
>Let me revise my hypothesis, then. We are a complicated country.