What goes on in a man's mind that makes him carry something that he claims is a bomb into the local hospital threatening to blow up himself and others? This happened here in Boulder yesterday. The police handled this very well, as they are trained to do. But in the end, after much negotiation and patience and various attempts to get him disarmed, the man was shot and killed.
Was this "suicide by cop"? Or, was this very bizarre cry for help? (After all, he did go to a hospital instead of a mall.) No one seems to know anything about him. So far, no one seems to be related to him. How sad. How very sad. And during Holy Week.
I suppose we'll all move on and quickly forget the incident. But what lingers for me is the very serious question of what can be done to better assist the mentally ill? Was there no one in his life to see him sliding down hill mentally? And if anyone did observe a mental or emotional deterioration, what exactly should they have done? Are we so afraid of interfering with other people's rights that we watch silently as a person slides into despair? Or, is such a person so much a loner that no one knows he exists, and no one therefore cares about his mental health?
Pope John Paul II used to talk about building "a civilization of love" and working to create "a culture of life." Decades ago mentally ill people were put into institutions which came to be called with derision "insane asylums." One thinks of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." What happened in the last half of the 20th century was a closing of these institutions and a putting of these ill people out on the streets. Thus came about our culture of homeless people, mostly the mentally ill. This manner of dealing with the mentally ill is a far cry from a civilization of love, don't you think?
So on this Good Friday, I will pray for the man at the hospital when we echo the words of Jesus on the cross and sing the responsorial psalm refrain, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
