A sad day in Aurora

[Wade Nelson]

By now you've all heard about the massacre in Aurora, Colorado. 12 dead, 71 injured, many critical.

The thing I always think after these sorts of things is "Didn't the guy have any hobbies?"

I couldn't go on a rampage, that wouldn't let me get my Z fixed up! There will be parts arriving next week!

Doesn't this kid go fly fishing, ride bikes with a group of friends every Sunday, work on old sports cars, have ANYTHING to look forward to IN THE FUTURE that going on a rampage would prevent him from doing?

I heard, after getting his college degree, (honors in neuroscience) the only job he could get was flipping burgers at a McDonalds.

Frustrating, for sure.

But when I found myself out of work, or underemployed, I poured my heart into fitness, biking, swimming laps, fixing the physical since I didn't have any solutions to the financial. Any "balance" in my life has been serial -- these few years I stayed fit, these few years I made a lot of money, these few years I focused on relationships.

And I go to church. I know, if all else failed, that group of people would prop me up, lend me a room in their house, feed me, whatever. I also know they'd be extremely disappointed were I to go postal.

Maybe I'm stupid. Maybe giving a kid a Z-car to fix up couldn't have prevented this. But my Dad, teaching me how to fix up old British sports cars, gave me a hobby / addiction for life.

Something to focus on when everything else felt like it was going to hell.