Day 286: Everything changes

Things can change in a heartbeat. The flag next to our local El Granada postoffice joined others in our nation to fly at half staff.  This is honoring those who died or where injured in the senseless killings in Arizona recently.  How can we process the actions of a madman?  Perhaps there is no way to "understand" such a tragedy.  But we must live with it, focusing our prayers on the Congresswomen fighting for her life in a hospital, and the shooter being held by police struggling to find the reason for this carnage.  What demon drives a man into unspeakable violence?  Have our polarized politics and the media attention it receives contributed to the madness that spawned these acts?  Is there anything that each of us can do to stop things like this from happening in the future?  Is there anything we can learn from this?  I have no answers or advice.  It is dumbfounding.