I don’t want to let the horror of the Newtown massacre fade into forgetfulness. Here are some thoughts of mine I have to get into print.

The cause of the massacre wasn’t simply “guns” or one young man’s “mental illness.” In fact, we each contributed our little bit of insanity to that unthinkable event.

Child abuse is insanity. Wife-beating is insanity. Road, mall, and other forms of “rage” are insanity. Our addiction to smart phones, iPods and other such devices is insanity. Our unthinking pursuit of the nightmare known as the “American Dream” is insanity. Our dislike of all religions, cultures, and nations but our own is insanity. Our pursuit of peace through war is insanity. The need to have an AR-15 or AK-47 around the house is insanity.

A Newtown, a Columbine, an Aurora, a Jared Loughner, a Timothy McVeigh, an Adam Lanza, are gross distillations of the general derangement of contemporary American life. Most of us, of course, deny this categorically, and so we become a little crazier almost by the hour.

The cure, or at least the beginning of a cure? “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

We know who said this, don’t we?

JERRY GILL

Hertford