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I-15 Northbound

 

“That wasn’t really much of a vacation,” said Lee, in a sort of resigned chuckle as they drove up I-15, finally on the way home. Once you have children, Lee thought, you never realize how much more of your life is spent in a car.

“No, no it wasn’t,” responded Becca, as her eyeballs rolled up into her eyelids in a sort of face-sigh.

Lee was making smoochy faces and kissing noises to Analise in the rearview mirror. Analise smiling and kicking. Holding on to her favorite giraffe.

After this weekend, Lee now found people’s apparent apathy and unconcern about the inevitability of the world’s or their own death and destruction—whether it was in the form of a Supervolcano, earthquake, fire, flood, or mass shooting—even more shocking. We in modern society had fooled ourselves into thinking we were safe. That we were too smart and advanced to be beaten by a natural disaster or virus or the unpredictability of men. Yet it was all an illusion. The thin line that stood between our safety and danger, our very life and death, was tenuous at best.

Then again, maybe there were those who were better prepared for such a thing, at peace with their place in the world and the unavoidability of death; resolved, but not apathetic, to do what good they could and not worry about the things out of their control, balancing that thin line between action and apathy and acceptance. He considered Becca such a person, even though the last year had been particularly hard for her.

While Becca drove, Lee came across another article in the Salt Lake Tribune on his phone. The article nearly obscured by advertisements at the bottom of another developing story on the escalation of the Yellowstone Supervolcano, something now Lee had little interest in.

The headline of the story read, “Zion Shooter Reveals Motivations in Journal.” Lee’s pulse quickened, and his eyes went wide. The article was about the now-called “Zion Shooter,” and in the paper were quotes by the shooter himself, printed almost in their entirety by the Tribune. The man’s name was Richard Smith. And after a brief couple paragraphs and overview of the shooting that had taken place two weeks ago, along with the man’s personal history—minor ties to white supremacy movements, unemployed, discharged from the military, PTSD, loner, drifter, construction worker, frustrated white man—lay several disturbing selections from the journal, which Lee found odd and was unsure if such things were common practice. Lee’s eyes widened in fascination as he began to read a couple printed selections:

“I never wanted to hurt anyone,” one selection read, “but I wanted to make a point.”

“Are you listening now? Good.”

“I’m so goddamn sick of this world. This world is on fire, burning, going straight to hell.”

“When will you people fucking see!”

“When will our government wake up?”

“Someone needs to do something.”

“I am here! I exist!”

Perhaps even more interesting, though, was a list of demands Richard Smith had written (with his own notes, questions, and exclamation marks, barely legible, and therefore reprinted) titled:

 

List of Demands for a Better Society:

1. Registration, Licensure, and Safety Courses for Anyone Wishing to Own a Firearm.
2. Free Access to Health Care, specifically, preventative mental health care including therapy and medication.
3. Political “draft” wherein people can no longer “run” for office, rather they must be drafted and then elected. This rids Washington of corruption, campaign financing and personal selfishness in favor of elected officials who actually are forced to work for the people, not themselves or lobbyists.
4. Stop American World Policing! Intervene only in dire crises. End Military-Industrial Complex. But ALSO, respect military!
5. Legalize Marijuana and end Prison-Industrial Complex.
6. Stop shooting unarmed civilians/get rid of police state, but also force police to go through more training and then pay those on the police force a better living wage. They work hard!
7. Compromise on a way to ease government bureaucracy/regulations on the middle class and small businesses without giving up moral order and allowing the selfish/greedy to reign. How?
8. Either significantly lower cost of taxes/housing or implement a global living wage so that people can actually live and not just survive.
9. Allow people to live in the woods and be left to themselves as long as they do not hurt anyone and abide by the above demands.
10. ?

 

Lee was shocked. The list, seemed rather, well, progressive. Not as if it was written by a madman. But what else could you call the man? Clearly he was a sick person.

“Everything okay?” Becca asked.

Lee showed her his phone, she looked at it and then looked back to him: “What is that?”

“I’ll read it to you.”