That's a terrible story. I'm sorry for the victims and their families.

The people who committed these crimes are dangerous and should be confined so the rest of us can be safe from them.

The victims deserve justice - which would come in the form of some kind of punishment for the murders.

I don't know. Maybe.

First of all, they may not actually be the criminals. They haven't been tried yet. It could be someone else is guilty.

Second, some of them may be less culpable. There may have been only one or two who were the instigators. The others may have been afraid or intoxicated or mentally deficient in some way. Or some of them may have not even been there at all but were somehow falsely accused.

I think that kindness and compassion might have prevented this crime, but you'd have to go back in time - to their childhoods or infancy or maybe before they were born. We don't know their history, but I suspect they haven't been the recipients of an overabundence of kindness and compassion in this life. I would be willing to bet that most or all of these men have significant trauma in their early lives. I always remind myself that happy people don't do things like that.

Obviously that wouldn't excuse their actions - if they did this - but it can make us aware that right now there are people who are suffering. We can't really know what burdens others are carrying. We can't rescue everyone, obviously, but we can refrain from adding to their burden by acting out our aggressions against them.

For me that means being aware of what's going on with me, knowing when I'm tired or irritable, so that I can be extra careful not to pass that negativity on to others in my tone of voice or by spreading malicious gossip or by rolling my eyes or any of the hundred other things we humans tend to do when we're unhappy. First we blame others for our unhappiness, then we punish them. I guess we think we'll feel better if we "share," but it doesn't work. We still have our original misery and now the other person is less happy than they were before we crossed their path. And we probably also feel bad about ourselves for acting out.

I guess I'm recommitting to myself to "refrain and reflect." Refrain from judging and acting out aggressively. Reflect on the burden the other person must be carrying. If I see a young mother yelling at her child, for example, I'm tempted to judge her. But if I scowl at her and make a snide comment, have I helped? Or have I added the additional burden of shame to what she's already carrying? I may not be able to help her, but I can avoid adding more pain.

Back to the five young men in your example: I guarantee you that right now at this very moment there's a child suffering somewhere at the hands of the person or people who should be caring for him. I guarantee you that somewhere hate and rage and pain are building in some child's young heart. I guarantee you that some day that pain will explode outward and hurt an innocence victim. And I guarantee you that somewhere - at this very minute - there's a teacher or neighbor or aunt or someone who's just being kind to a kid who needs to see that there are good people who will love them. No drama. No fanfare. No one will ever know. But they've saved a life.

All I'm saying is if everyone would strive to refrain from adding to the sum total of pain in the world - and offer kindness when possible - we'd have fewer miserable people running around hurting others.