Monsters

I had every intention about writing something positive this week.  Unfortunately, positivity has taken a vacation for awhile.  

Monsters have risen again from their shallow culverts and seek to wreak chaos and tragedy on the innocents who have the misfortune of being in their presence.  

Sometimes the monster is the event itself.  

Sometimes the monster is the coalescence of evil that manifests in the hearts of people and makes them do unspeakable things.

How we deal with these “monsters” is of interest.

Last week Chaney lost a friend and a mentor.  Since she entered the Orange County School of the Arts as a seventh grader, she has been coached, pushed, and prodded by her piano accompanist… for those of you who have seen her performance videos on Facebook, the professorial-looking piano maestro who typically plays for her was a distinguished gentleman named, endearingly by the students of OCSA, “Mr. S.”  His full name was Mr. Lukas Swidzinski; he was an immigrant from Poland and an incredibly talented piano player.  He also was an aspiring airplane pilot.  

Last week Mr. S was tragically killed at Compton Municipal Airport during a lesson.  As near as we can figure out, another pilot landed his aircraft either on or near Mr. S’s plane, killing him instantly.

The loss to the OSCA community is palpable.  The event is monstrous, but it is clear that the accident was at most a manifestation of negligence, and not an intentional act of violence.

The feelings of loss are contained with a melancholily remembrance of a great and talented man who left us far too early.

We contrast that to the intentional acts of malice that took place in Christchurch, New Zealand.  

As you are all well aware, a white nationalist (I refuse to publish his name) engaged in an act of barbarism in Christchurch, New Zealand.  Interestingly, he decided to GoPro the entire event.  One of our government contacts came by Artemis with the video and we reviewed it together.  (It is potentially available on the Internet, and I strongly suggest NOT viewing it.  It is graphic, and serves only to give the suspect continued notoriety.)  

This action was not performed in a vacuum.  He posted a “manifesto” prior to his act that shows a well-thought-out, rational (if you will forgive that word), political motivation to his attack.  He considered the Muslims who he gunned down to be “invaders” of the West.  He evidently did not have issues with Muslims per se.  He had traveled to Pakistan, as well as extensively throughout Asia.  His issue seems to be Muslims living in the West.

He also had training.

Watching the video, we see cool, calculated, mission-specific actions, from caching his car, to stepping into cover to perform reloads.  He also maintains a consistent breathing rate until he makes his first trip back to his car to exchange weapons.  This is the first time you begin to hear labored breathing.  

He also encounters no resistance at all.    

Finally, as he drives away, he laments that he did not burn the Mosque.  He came equipped with gasoline, but for whatever reason abandoned that course of action, then regrets audibly that decision.

Fifteen minutes into the video as he is driving away we hear the first of the sirens approaching.

In his manifesto he states that he specifically chose firearms for the sensational impact they have.  He believes the use of firearms will cause the Second Amendment community in the United States to become beleaguered by those calling for the repeal of gun rights precipitating a civil war in the U.S. that he feels will invariably fall along racial lines.

His hero was Anders Breivik, the mass murderer who executed children in Norway in 2011.  Like Breivik, this monster never had any intention of being a martyr… he wanted to get caught.  This act of narcissism is the prelude to le grande expose… his public trial.

Houses of worship have always been a target for monsters.  That will never go away.  Thankfully, houses of worship are beginning to implement armed security forces to keep their parishioners safe…  Artemis helps train many of them.  

In the next coming days as we continue to study this event and understand how it could have been prevented or mitigated, we will be inviting all of our religious security groups in for a study on how they can enhance their mission to protect their own respective flocks.

This has been a tragic week for us as the Lieberman family, for us as the OSCA family, and for us as the human family.  We must always be vigilant to the monsters who walk amongst us.