tragedy

Ever since former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s remarkable testimony in the recent January 6 committee hearing, I’ve been thinking – as I’m sure many people have – about courage. Seeking analogies in literature, I think of two women from Greek mythology: Antigone and Iphigenia. Courage often engenders more of itself: Being brave may make you even braver. In the cases of these two heroines, courage doesn’t save any lives. But these women’s behavior does make us ask what people are capable of, and whether we too might be able to summon such courage. The behavior of the powerful men around Antigone and Iphigenia shows how only a rare few are able to summon courage, and dramatizes how, instead, the drive to maintain power takes the form of cowardice and willful blindness. Courage vs....

Nearly a year before he was charged with shooting and killing 10 shoppers, and wounding three more, at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store, a then-17-year-old student reportedly told his classmates at Susquehanna Valley High School that he “wanted to do a shooting, either at a graduation ceremony, or sometime after.” He also reportedly mentioned that he wanted to do a murder-suicide at the school, which is located in Broome County in New York. A teacher reported the comment – made online – to a school resource officer. Since the perpetrator had been at home when he made the comment, it triggered a visit from state police, as opposed to the school resource officer, according to an official account of the episode published in the wake of the shooting in The Buffalo News. “The State Police ...

Tag: tragedy

Cassidy Hutchinson And Greek Tragedy Show That Courage Is Rare And Cowardice More Common

Could More Have Been Done To Avert The Tragedy? Accused Buffalo Mass Shooter Had Threatened A Shooting While In High School