Igniting a Silent Anger

I find it curious to read of Alan Winterborne being described as a “harmless eccentric.”

I did not know him, but it seems to be a general practice of our society to label anyone who doesn’t daily brandish the firepower of Rambo as harmless. We forget that the anguish of being unemployed for years on end brings on acute depression and, coupled with even a slight mental imbalance, can ignite a deadly silent anger. Sweetly silent eccentrics can push baby carriages around as they plan revenge on a system that has failed them.

Remember mental health services? Once upon a time, they helped a lot of people through counseling and, if needed, allotted medication under supervision to help them cope. If they were chronically unemployed, sometimes some sort of job could be found or formed to help a patient be a part of the working class so that they could have a sense of contribution and self-worth.

This system is practically defunct now because we have been told that there is no money to be spent on social services--that every penny must be spent to protect ourselves from all the crazy, gun-toting people out there. Isn’t it rather ironic that a police officer was killed by an “eccentric?”

Social services isn’t something to do with afternoon tea, folks. It was formed to help people before they become a possible threat to society. The real tragedy of the Dec. 2 massacre was that we let Alan Winterborne slip through the cracks, and he wasn’t going to let us forget it.

I hope now we can study the cause instead of the drama.

DANIEL NAUMAN

Ventura