When a Tragedy Becomes More Than an Incident
In recent days, the Netherlands has been gripped by a terrible event: the murder of a young girl. The news has shaken us all. The grief for the victim, the despair of her loved ones — it is almost impossible to grasp. Above all, this is a tragedy that should never have happened.
And yet, we must tread carefully. Because what unfolds now — in the media, in politics, and in society — is just as important as the event itself. The collective cry of “This must never happen again!” is understandable, but it often hides something deeper — and more dangerous.
The Call for Safety
After every tragedy comes the same promise: never again. Solutions are quickly proposed — more cameras, harsher punishments, tighter control. People feel a temporary sense of safety, as if society can somehow take hold of evil.
But that is an illusion. Absolute safety does not exist. Violence and crime are as old as humanity itself. There will always be acts we cannot predict, cannot prevent.
The belief that we can prevent them through ever more control often carries a quiet cost: our own freedom. Bit by bit, we surrender our space to move, our privacy, and our humanity — all in exchange for a promise that can never truly be kept.
The Individual as Scapegoat
The perpetrator is quickly portrayed as a monster — pushed outside the realm of humanity, as if he were an exception, a malfunction in the system. In doing so, society comforts itself: the problem lies with him, not with us.
But is that really true? Of course, an individual bears responsibility for their actions. Yet every person is also a product of their environment. No one wakes up one morning and decides to kill. Such acts are often preceded by years of psychological distress, isolation, hopelessness, or failed care.
And these are precisely the areas where we, as a society, are failing. Our mental health care is gutted. Waiting lists are endless. Education is under pressure. Social safety nets are unraveling. People slip through the cracks. And yes, in the end it so often comes down to the same root cause — a financial and political system that measures everything in costs and benefits, rather than in humanity.
Why Some See It — and Others Don’t
You might wonder: why do some people see the broader patterns, while others remain fixated on the incident?
A few thoughts:
Conditioning: when people hear the same stories every day, they learn to think in simple binaries — good versus evil, victim versus perpetrator.
Fear: it is easier to believe that evil lives outside ourselves. It gives us a sense of control.
Free thinking: it takes courage to let go of one’s own beliefs and embrace complexity. Not everyone wants to carry that uncertainty.
The system itself: media and politics have a vested interest in keeping our eyes on the individual — not the structure. A scapegoat is easy. A failing system confronts us all.
If We Truly Want to Solve It
If we genuinely want to prevent this from happening again, we must look beyond cameras and punishment. We must return to the foundation:
Mental health: make it accessible, intervene early, not only after it’s too late.
Basic security: ensure people don’t drown in debt, despair, or homelessness.
Humanity in systems: craft policies that are built around people, not spreadsheets.
This requires vision, time, and courage. But it is the only path that leads somewhere real.
In the End
A young girl is gone. A family is broken. A society mourns. But if we want this to become more than another headline, we must learn to look beyond the individual.
Not to excuse the perpetrator, but to understand how someone could fall so far.
Not to buy an illusion of safety, but to rebuild the foundation of our shared humanity.
Not to trade freedom for control, but to preserve freedom through care, compassion, and connection.
#freedom #kill #judgement #care
