I feel for these people. I do. I’ve been dealing with depression for about 10 years and have been on anti-depressants and such for five and a half years. My life hasn’t been nearly as difficult as this kid’s, though there were money troubles, family strife, the death of my mother, and just generally folding to the pressures of society….

Point being, we all have our sob stories. At some point we have to decide, “Hey, do I want to perpetuate this spiraling loop of darkness or do I want to find some way to break free?” Instead of allowing himself to get bogged down in crappy jobs and crappy people, he could’ve gone out on his own, gone back to school, whatever. The story says he had an adult giving him shelter and whom was genuinely concerned about him, so don’t tell me he was completely on his own. Obviously he had good friends if they let him stay with their parents and caring parental figures if those people took him in, no questions asked.

So yes, I feel for what he’s been through and whatever his mental state might have been.

However, here’s a harsh lesson or two: SOMETIMES WE DON’T GET WHAT WE WANT, HOW WE WANT IT, AND WHEN WE WANT IT.

Oh and, THE WORLD DOESN’T EXIST SOLELY FOR YOUR AMUSEMENT.

He could’ve decided that the society he was living in wasn’t for him and worked to carve his own little niche in the world. Maybe channel his energy into art or philanthropy and try to make things better. Not just for the world, but for himself. I mean, not only would he be doing good deeds, but he would be gaining the respect and recognition that had sorely been lacking in his life.

But no instead, he took the coward’s way out. He decided that the world owed him something. Instead of finding his voice and making a life for himself, he decided to go and take the lives of others, lives of people who didn’t know him and had nothing to do with his crappy situation. Then he decided to make sure he really went out in jackass style by leaving a note about how this would make him famous.

Then, instead of being tough and taking his lumps, he killed himself and left the world having accomplished….nothing. He could’ve stayed alive and made sure his voice was heard, but then he did this and made sure that his life really DIDN’T mean anything except to be some cruddy footnote in a violent history.

“Hey anyone remember Robert Hawkins?”

“Who?”

“That guy…he shot up a mall in Omaha.”

“Oh yeah. What a jerk.”

See what I mean? Nothing more than a stain. He has people hating him even though they never knew him or knew his situation, when he could’ve been so much more.

And before people come up behind me and say, “He had no choice! He had nowhere to go! He was screwed! He didn’t have a chance!”

He at least could’ve TRIED. He could’ve TRIED to better himself or TRIED to find a less violent way to fix things and still save himself. He could’ve TRIED. There’s always a chance as long as you’re willing to fight and look for alternatives.

It could be demonic possesion by an extra dimensional being.

Look into it.

I s’pose I should clarify that — I deliberately focused on one part of your post just like you focused on one simple part of the story, which was a generalization that is actually accurate. There are parts of the United States (where Nebraska currently resides) where some activities are more prevalent then other parts of the country.
For instance, how many people in Nebraska surf something other than the internet? Out West where I’m from, we have these people who take these long boards out on the ocean and “hang 10″ on the waves. Don’t get that much in your area, right? Well, we don’t have a lot of big game out here, so not a lot of us grow up looking at life through the crosshairs of a Browning rifle, or whatever your pleasure might be. Capice?