There Is No Cause. There Is Only Effect

On August 27th, 2012, the New York Times published an interview with the mother of Jeffrey Johnson, the man who killed a coworker in front of the Empire State Building.

When asked why she thought he did it, the distraught woman was as baffled as the rest of us. Valiantly trying to answer the reporter's question, she attributed her son's behavior to a car accident that had put him into a coma when he was in the sixth grade, then suggested that it might have happened because Jeffrey was devastated when a beloved cat recently died in his arms.

When police investigators were asked about a motive for the shooting, they theorized that Jeffrey did it because he blamed Steven Ercolino, the man he killed, for his recent job loss.

Jeffrey's mother and the police were simply doing what we all do when tragedy strikes: We search for answers in an attempt to make sense of the senseless. Why did they do what they did? Why do we do what we do?

I'm reading a book called "What Is The What" about one of the "Lost Boys Of Sudan" who, along with thousands of other boys (and girls), became homeless and orphaned as a result of the most recent Civil War in Sudan (there have been others, but the Darfur genocide has made us particularly aware of this one).

Reading the book is like listening to the explanation for why Jeffrey Johnson killed Steven Ercolino. To explain the Sudanese Civil War, one must begin with, "Thousand of years ago, the tribes of Sudan...."

The explanation for why anyone kills anyone might similarly begin, "Starting with when his great, great grandparents first arrived in the country..." and even that doesn't go back far enough.

And just try to explain the causes for the famous Hatfield/McCoys family feud (I can't even explain the game show of the same name).

In other words, if we start looking for cause and effect, we must logically go back to the beginning of the Universe when the Big Bang led to the formation of the Earth, the creation of mammals, then human beings and, finally, Jeffrey Johnson at the Empire State Building.

Or consider the every day world of people we don't get along with. We search for reasons why they are they way they are and we review our interactions with them for clues. But the explanation for why any of us think what we think and do what we do must begin with the beginning of time.

This is not to excuse or condone violence in any form. We must do everything we can to be sure people are safe and that sometimes means using force to stop force.

But if we are to end the seemingly unending conflicts in our lives, we have to stop searching for causes to blame it on and, instead, commit to the phrase, "I'm responsible."

We are the way we are because we've chosen to be the way we are. Even though neuroscience, philosophy and psychology at least since Freud, all question the degree to which we freely choose our actions, believing that we do at least gives us the possibility of altering life on this planet for our children and for ourselves.

At the same time, recognizing our limited ability to freely choose, we can show empathy and compassion for those who are stuck in the paradigm of "I can't help myself." If I stop looking for causes and accept my responsibility, then I'm responsible for helping people who think they can't help themselves (and of course, sometimes they can't).