Routine in this case means a sort of gradual anaesthesizeing of conscience and of the capacity of empathy.
As a European onlooker of these tragedies happening virtually every quarter, one has to contemplate a little further on the question of “shared values”. Together with America we share the values of liberty and human dignity, it is often maintained.
But to my knowledge, it is not, and never was, recognized a human value in our part of the world, that each and every individual should be granted the right to act as his own police force, his own military force, his own legislator, his own prosecutor and judge. When in the name of liberty and human values it is suggested that the carrying of guns be extended to students, to school kids, to teachers, if not even to nursery kids and their staffs, it has definitely nothing at all to do with liberty and human dignity as these are conceived in Europe – or elsewhere, for that part.
Something has gone horrifyingly wrong in the Land of the Brave and Free. We can only hope and pray that some day, when yet another bloodshed excess has happened over there, one will not go back to business as usual but to a more true sense of righteousness and reality.