How Fathers, Present and Absent, Shape Our World

In the wake of national tragedies in schools at Sandy Hook, Parkland, and most recently Santa Fe, the simple question "Why?" resounds. As long as mass shootings perpetrated by America's young men continue to multiply, it is a question that will never rest.

In the process of finding out the "how" and the "who," we often lose sight of the importance of "why." The nation, and its politicians, seem intent on addressing only the "how" – namely, determining the future of gun rights in America – yet care not for the answer to "why." While we can blame the prevalence of guns or the lack thereof in school zones for how many lives we have lost to school shooters, neither of these causes young men to commit unspeakable acts of violence. Ian Black, writing for the New York Times, says "The Boys Are Not All Right," offering the answer that a full discussion of what it means to be a man, and any clear idea resulting from it, are not present in American culture: