I’ll give credit score to the creator of the article “Searching for meaning at the Thunder Ranch gun school” (Aug. 16, Nation & World) for managing to elicit sympathy for his protagonist, Kyle Hay, whereas describing an overarching narrative imbued with paranoia, violence and macho masculinity. How unhappy it’s to hunt redemption for a damaged marriage and unfulfilling profession by crawling round within the dust with an assault-style weapon, in preparation for a battle with a fictional bogeyman.
That many males (and a few girls) search a way of objective by partaking in one of these militaristic “Disneyland for males” is unhappy, and a bit scary. As an alternative, I’d recommend they search success by partaking in artwork, writing, volunteering, or discovering some technique to give again to the neighborhood. And a bit of remedy wouldn’t harm.
Larry Wechsler, Edmonds
