Commentaries

Hurting People, Hurt People!!

By Dr. Neals J. Chitan

April 23, holds a sad memory for me. Despite the fact it was fourteen years ago, a boy never really gets over the loss of his father, and I vividly remember the stabbing pain in my heart as I entered the room to view my dad’s lifeless body still on his bed in a downtown Toronto hospital.

And now, fourteen years to the date, just when I was reflecting on the hurt that this April day brought me, comes another episode of pain, sorrow and death in my hometown of Toronto, as a white panel van goes on the attack, mounting onto the sidewalk and plowing through the helpless bodies of innocent unsuspecting civilians, leaving ten dead and fifteen wounded.

The pictures of widespread mayhem spanning the two kilometers stretch from Yonge and Finch to Yonge and Shepherd, circled the online world within minutes and major local and international news agencies were reporting the horrific scenes of human disaster.

However, despite the shock and disbelief of the moment, in an effort to piece together the reason for such a barbaric act, all attention was turned to the infamous star of this horror movie, the driver of the white death machine-25year old Alex Minassian. And as a social skill specialist and crime reduction expert, I too was hoping for a live capture of the assailant so that somehow irrationality can make peace with perceived rationality and a motive can be established.

Noteworthy praise should be given on Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders and his men and women in uniform for their impeccable timing in response to this attack. However, specific mention must be made of the bravery and heroism of Constable Ken Lam for singularly executing a quick take down and putting Alex Minassin into the grip of his handcuffs, without firing a single bullet. By the way, demonstrating a great teachable moment for our police friends south of the border.

Quickly, the digging into the background Alex Minassin began by the media, and I started reading everything that was uncovered in my quest to determine what would finally render a human being this diabolically evil. So, searching for the frequent patterns of hurt, trauma and social deprivation that seem to always precede these episodes of mass criminal outcomes I knew that there had to be the “handwriting of the wall” that if carefully decoded could have prevented this tragedy.

CBC News on March 24, 2018 posted the article “What we know about Alex Minassin, man charged in deadly Toronto van attack,” and in that article they mentioned the comments of a high school acquaintance Ari Blaff who took Grade 10 classes with Alex and graduated along with him in 2011.

In his comments, Blaff was noted as saying that Minassin did not appear to have friends and was usually seen in the hallways and school cafeteria alone. He continued that Alex did not seem to belong to any core group of friends and was usually resigned to the background of a social group rather the center.

This commentary by one who was daily observing and somewhat interacting with young Alex Minassin in high school, paints a picture of a teenager who can be referred to as somewhat socially and emotionally deprived and/or even experiencing a peer interacting phobia.

As he became older, the CBC article mentioned what seemed to be a total inability of Alex, now a young adult, to approach women to whom he is attracted, for fear of rejection. As a matter of fact, CBC News further stated that Minassin was openly praising and saluting Elliott Rodgers the perpetrator of a similar vehicular rampage that left six persons dead and twelve wounded in California in 2014, as the “Supreme Gentleman” on social media.

And here we are again, with the “handwriting on the wall,” with a teenager silently screaming out for psychosocial help and exhibiting every level of antisocial behavior, but left to fall through the cracks by parents, teachers, school guidance counsellors and perhaps even clergy, till maturity occurs. However, unfortunately it’s not the maturity that would make him into a respectful and socially balanced gentleman, but the maturing of such a strong dislike for people that he finally resolves to give them a fatal dose of the hurt he has experienced for decades.

Selfish and evil!! We shout after the fact. But is it possible that there is another Alex close to you and I whom we know is hurting and also displaying similar antisocial symptoms, but we are too busy to observe? Will we wait till another tragedy happens again? Remember, hurting people hurt people!!

As I close let me pause to emphatically express my heartfelt condolence to the families of the ten innocent victims of this tragedy and offer a sincere prayer for the emotional and physical healing of the fifteen survivors. God bless the City of Toronto!!

 

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