Is it possible that despair and anxiety occupies the flipside of the same coin as the cause behind most gun violence?

Gun violence and public shootings are so normal now that we have drills for them in our local schools and businesses just like we do fire drills. It's important to be educated on how best to protect yourself, and it's just a sign of the times on how events at Columbine High School are now an everyday thing (unfortunately). Just like you, I've been seeing these events come across my news feed for decades now, played out in all their heart-wrenching drama and usually by a white terrorist shooter with little to no motive other than "they were really angry at society." Sometimes not even anger can be detected, as in the case of the Las Vegas shooter at Mandalay Bay. Sometimes, it ends up baffling all the "experts" who are trying to figure out this modern phenomenon.

You know another thing that appears to be normalizing? Depression and anxiety. I know so many people who are depressed and anxious over their future. The source of their stress is financial and to some extent, extreme pride. They are burdened by student loans, they can't find a really good paying job, many of them desire careers that reflect the image they have in their minds that defines their self-worth (which can be quite high, mind you...no one I know fancies themselves a refrigerator repairman), and some of them would like to only work part-time because they want to spend the rest of their time making themselves healthy with exercise and maintaining relationships that bring them joy and sex. My friend Brad put it very plainly in a Facebook post recently when he wrote that "Most addicts would be cured of their addiction if they were provided 1) sustained shelter, 2) good and consistent food, 3) free medical care, and 4) plenty of opportunities to intermingle with others who give them self-respect."

It all sounds fantastic until I boil down what he's writing and think, "Okay, all this person is asking for is free housing, free food, free medical care, and social interaction with friends who respect them...and then continue all that for the rest of their life." There's part of me that goes...what the Hell?...who wouldn't want that? That's literally a laundry list of all the difficult things any one of us faces in life. If my housing and food was taken care of (as well as medical), I could go to the gym, get into shape, live longer, and just be all around fantastic because I had time to intermingle with friends and could get something to buy little things like movie tickets and concert tickets and just party to the end of my days.

I'd also like to point out that the underlying message buried in Brad's Facebook post is very aspirational and might go something like this: "Most people use drugs because the misery of their reality at having to be a wage slave to get all of these things drives people to use drugs." Hmm. That's an interesting point, and if you pause and think about it, the overwhelming reality for many folks who struggle to meet a Maslow's hierarchy of needs explains depression, anxiety, and addiction very well. I also don't think addiction is necessarily limited to drugs. Rather, it is just one form of "escapism." People use a plethora of ways to escape the miseries of their reality. Gaming (as in roleplaying games and video games) is an example of excellent escapism. "I can't be successful in life so I'll be a success in this game and feel good while playing it." I read recently that the latest version of Dungeons & Dragons is selling better than any edition that the game has ever produced going back to the very beginning. Another related thing is I saw on a KSL newscast in a segment called "Wednesday's Child" (in which the local news highlights a kid in foster care looking to be adopted) that one such child hates his reality so much that he uses Dungeons & Dragons to escape from it and loves playing it. Escapism is in every place where people cannot cope with their day-to-day reality. So the message is this: for a lot of us reality really hurts.

So here is where I segway into a talk about gun violence being on the possible flipside to this metaphorical coin that harbors all of the above. In other words, it seems to me that the depression and anxiety (which is now an epidemic in the USA where I live) stems from a kind of scarcity related to the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. But are there other scarcities? From my experience, I'd have to say yes. Love and emotional connection can be scarcities for any number of reasons. One might have physical or mental barriers that put off social likeableness, making it difficult to connect with people. Emotional reactions to this scarcity could end up being despair (and this is probably true in a number of situations). But I posit that victims of various scarcities could also end up with emotions of rage, hatred, and anger. I guess what I'm saying is that when scarcities become insurmountable, despair sets in, and then one might eventually end up in some kind of escapism (drugs, video games, etc.). However, is it possible that  they might just as easily end up becoming violent because...why the hell not? And I suppose which route one takes is also very dependent on access. Are guns readily accessible? Are drugs readily accessible? When you perceive that you have nothing to live for because one of many needs aren't being met, a lot of things are possible including addiction and gun violence.

So I guess that's what I was thinking about the last couple of days. I'm not a psychologist, but I don't necessarily think that removes me from asking intellectual questions like this. In either event, I apologize if I ask only questions and offer no solutions. I got nothing as far as addressing any of the scarcities (financial, love, health, etc.) that people suffer from every day. That (I think) is for politicians and law makers to puzzle out as we struggle to maintain a functioning society comprised of millions of people. However, I know I'm not the only one who is asking the question: "What is going on?" because the headlines are painting a grimmer and grimmer version of modern day life.

I think there's another reason as to why Portland and Vancouver are the most depressed cities in America.

Citation: This article HERE.

When I visited Portland, Oregon a couple of years ago, there was a sign I saw that said, "Keep Portland Weird." I imagine that the sign is an acknowledgement that the liberal utopia and its surrounding area have a population of those who want to feel connected to others, whether or not that connection is actually affordable. It also (and repeatedly so) is rated highly as the most depressed city in America (Portland and Vancouver) because these sister cities deal so much with this particular mental illness.

So, I started to ask, "Why is this?" Science and statistical studies point to its dreary overcast weather as being the source of depression. And I think nearly everyone gloms onto this fact and then, because an answer that is reasonable has been presented and seems to be the case, no further questioning is partaken. In other words the answer is: gloomy weather makes for gloomy people. There you have it, done and done. But I think that it may be more complicated than that, and I'm basing my hypothesis on people who I've known all my life.

I come from a small town, and I moved to a larger one some ten or so years ago. In that time, practically all of the depressed people I knew...people with little or no job prospects that used weed and drugs to hide from reality as long as possible...all moved to the Portland area with ideas that moving to this place would somehow make everything right in the world. Of course, this didn't happen. They were depressed in super conservative Idaho Falls, Idaho, and they are still depressed in super liberal blue city of Portland/Vancouver. Why they thought a change of scenery, being surrounded by trees and forests, and having moss growing on everything with the smell of rain and rotting wood, would make any difference in their lives is beyond me. Sure, many of them moved there so that it would be easier to access drugs so that they could continue to deny that their lives have turned to absolute crap, because they'd rather be socially connected than work a back-breaking job for low wages. I understand that totally.

After all, what is the American Dream? No matter how you define it, I think the dream has at its core the idea of having friends who aren't financially stressed sharing good times and noodle salad with each other and just relaxing...all the time...relaxing in nice houses, with nice furniture, good food, kids who are well cared for maybe running around here and there...and all of it is somehow paid for magically like the situation comedies that sell this kind of thing. In this dream, you don't have to have actual skills to have a good paying job. You don't have to be able to do advanced math or anything that makes your brain hurt and takes everything that your brain has to give, leaving you exhausted at the end of a shift. You just have to have average (meaning everyone can do this if they apply themselves) intelligence and be able to do what everyone else can do, like cook while following a recipe in a book (ooh so special), paint, drive, or have opinions on decorating. Instead, what naturally would fill your day if you had all the time in the world is "your skill." For example, "if I had all the time in the world, I would do pottery." Or, "If I had all the time in the world, I would write poetry because that's a skill and it makes me happy." And that's the driving motivation: to be happy. That's all that matters. Only none of these things pay anything because everyone (yes there is some hyperbole here) can do them.

There is no slave driver making you work a back-breaking job where you spend the majority of your life in a warehouse or in a call center (where you are forced to take 200 calls a day). No, in this dream, there is work-life balance which provides enough free time for jogs along a clean river front (because everyone is into recycling), where you are all home at 3 in the afternoon (when you went to work at 9), and where a day's work is writing something profound on a blog or in a reputable magazine while networking with people who look fresh because their jobs shovel money at them for all their bright ideas. That's the American Dream. Oh and everyone in this dream eats organically sourced, local food coupled with only the best coffee, and works a thirty hour week to squeeze in concerts and visits to food trucks where life is as vibrant as the fall colors on the leaves. The thing is, all this stuff costs a lot of money, and most of the jobs in the U.S. do not provide that kind of income to afford this lifestyle. It doesn't exist, and it never has. Additionally, most people are not smart enough, nor do they have the means to be entrepreneurial with enough success, to purchase this lifestyle.

This twisted version of the "American Dream" is even so pervasive that its given rise to poverty snobbery. I have people who come into my home (who couldn't afford to rub two nickels together) who, when offered some Folgers coffee from my coffee maker, turn their nose up and say, "I'll have a cup and thank you, but I need to teach you what real coffee is." Like...what the hell?

I've told these people, "I know what 'real coffee' is and I like this stuff. If you want 'real coffee' then you're welcome to it in your own home. But don't go and pretend that you know any better than me, because you don't. It's an opinion, it's flexible, and just because my opinion of what's good and what isn't differs from yours does not mean that I'm somehow in need of an education from you." Each person I've said this to has never returned to my house and has pretty much unfriended me on Facebook. I don't mind at all, but I'm not going to be lectured to by people who (in particular) have no business giving others solicited advice on how to live.

So here's my point to all of this (bringing it back around). There's something about the Portland/Vancouver area and the Pacific West in general which sells this "weird" idea of the twisted (and many are in denial on how unaffordable it actually is) American Dream to depressed people who are unhappy with their lives (many who are in states like Idaho and Utah and Montana, etc.) And depressed people are buying it in droves. They think that, "all I have to do is pull up my roots in this crappy small town where I live and move to a place where there are towering pine trees, moss on everything, and it rains all the time, and life is going to be so much better." They think, "Hey, if I live in a place that is known for its natural beauty, then my life is totally going in the opposite direction...always up." The decision is probably fueled by an active cognitive dissonance...the idea that, "Hey, the reason I'm living in poverty in this deeply red state is because of the politics. If only I moved to a blue state, all that would change." Only it doesn't change, and the reason that they are living in poverty has nothing to do with the politics at all, and the people who are in denial of their problems find that they just get amplified when they move to a place where the cost of living is sky high. And please don't get me started on how many people who live in poverty, DO NOT REALIZE that they are poor. They think they are middle class, which is absolutely not true. Again...denial of reality, which is a completely different topic than this one.

I guess what I'm saying is that Portland and Vancouver are frequently listed as the most depressed cities in America, and the reason that is cited (the most) is due to the gloomy weather. I offer a counterpoint: that they are the most depressed cities in America because they are physical manifestations of actual Hope for people suffering from depression, and these people gather there by the thousands. However, this "Hope" is a huge lie. In a way, its like the promise of bad fruit. It looks great while its hanging on the tree, luscious, and juicy, but once you bite into it you discover how bland and mealy it actually is. But by that point, you've made the move and probably spent all your resources to get there (that you had), and are now stuck in an area that has you priced out and where "your skills" are not valued.

Of course, all of what I've written above is just opinion. I have no scientific studies, and I am not a social scientist. However, I'm not blind to what's going on, and I've known an unusually high number of people who moved to the Portland / Vancouver area because it was their life's dream. They all have one thing in common: they were clinically depressed before they made the move. And that makes me ask, why is living in the Portland area so appealing to depressed people?