The tragedy in Alabama.
As a "Harvard trained" (partially, at least) neuroscientist, I feel a peculiar connectedness to the recent tragic triple murder in Huntsville Alabama which allegedly has been perpetrated by a "Harvard trained neuroscientist" as she is now commonly called in the media. There is even another connection. A friend of mine with whom I have co-authored one paper is also a co-author on several papers and abstracts with this person. In fact, her name seemed strangely familiar to me, though I am quite sure I have never met her. But I had read (or at least perused) the papers she co-authored with my friend and that is probably why I remembered her name.
Of course, I really do not feel that any of this gives me any special insight.

Who knows what to say about such horrible things? Should schools have courses in how to cope with career problems? Would that have helped? She did not get tenure. Some of you might say "big deal." To those of you who have ever been on an academic track, you know how tough that is. But it's not terrible enough for it to make any sense to kill someone. Most of us are going to have to get through many unfortunate events. We are going to lose contracts, grants, and---yes---jobs. We are going to submit papers and some of them are going to be rudely rejected with unflattering comments about our abilities. Loved ones will reject us and, yes, people we love are going to die and/or be killed. Is there a way to learn to cope with these things? Or do we say that most people can cope and the few who cannot are crazy? I don't know.

Speaking of coping, think of the families of those who were killed. Think of those who were injured. Think of the perpetrator’s own family. All this because someone did not get tenure? There is a huge disconnect here. What I am going to write next may sound ridiculously obvious and it is probably one of those things that will not do anyone any good. But just in case it might help someone, I am going to write it anyway.

Even if you lose that job, that grant, that contract, or whatever wonderful thing you want and deserve due to the total and complete unfairness of another person or persons, it is never going to be helpful to try to kill or injure that person. If you start thinking that it would be worthwhile to do so, go immediately to a competent mental health provider. If you ever think doing something like that is a good idea, something has gone wrong with your thinking and you need to get help right away. I know this sounds obvious, but perhaps we should have courses that just drum this into everybody's head to give them something to hold onto when their thinking goes astray. Maybe in such a case, it would not work. But, if anyone tells you that he or she is going to do such a thing, then get help for that person immediately. At least if you are sane you can hopefully recognize when someone else might be going astray. While I do not like the idea of "snitching" on people in general, if you think that someone is likely to hurt himself or others, you just have to do it.

Sorry for the moralizing, but this story really "hit a nerve."