The Power of The Mind — The Nashville Christmas Bomber
By: Heather Rivera
Tags: Bomb, Desperation, Covid-19, Mental Health, Nashville

I was reading an article about the early morning bombing of downtown Nashville on Christmas when a specific statement jumped out at me:

“It’s like a giant jigsaw puzzle created by a bomb that throws evidence over multiple city blocks,” said U.S. Attorney Donald Cochran. “They’ve got to gather it, they’ve got to catalogue it, they’ve got to put it back together and find out what the picture of that puzzle looks like.”

You can find the full article here:

Authorities probing Nashville blast converge on home in city’s suburbs (msn.com)

What was peculiar to me was the statement, “created by a bomb”, which isn't really true. The truth is, the bomb was manifested from thoughts. What created this havoc on the street was not the bomb, itself, but the ill minded thought pattern of the creator of this bomb. There was something so deep, buried beneath months, years, perhaps decades, of a living mental hell that brought this person to this state.

I found it most intriguing that this person picked the lowest traffic date and time possible to release such havoc. This person even warned as many people as possible to evacuate the area. The intention, from what information I have been able to get my hands on, was not to physically harm nor kill anyone…well, perhaps, anyone but themselves.

What if what really created this giant jigsaw puzzle was the fact that the COVID pandemic has wrecked havoc on a lot of small businesses in America these days. What if what created this was an empty desperation to bring some sort of relief to the small business owners who have been suffering over the past 9 months? HOW? You might ask. Well, it is simple, really. Although also quite complex. Imagine you have invested your whole life, your savings, your time, your everything into your small business, and all of the sudden, from no fault of your own, it was all yanked away from you. I have read about, and also been, that person who has had to live pay check to pay check. Looking back there are some companies out there that have helped me be able to put food on my table, send my kids to school competitions…although, THAT is out the window for 2020, pay the bills, and have some great vacations that created memories to last a lifetime. I was never an independent business owner. While, yes, I have created a small business over the past 3 years, no, I am not fully dependent on only the money coming in from that endeavor. I also work full time for another company which had its founder sacrifice all he had to start this company from scratch back in 1971.

Now, with all of that in place, and considering this person chose the slowest time and date for the explosion to take place, I cannot help but wonder if this was not a desperate business owner who had all but lost everything they had with little support from our government, who sits high in their seats in congress bickering over BS while the people who have helped build the foundation on which they are seated are literally dyeing. What if the person, who appears to have not wanted to take anyone’s life but their own, was trying to “gift” these small businesses some sort of compensation? A hefty insurance payment to help those struggling, perhaps?

Honestly, whoever it is/was, they left an easy set of footprints to follow. It is not like they really went out of their way to conceal their path. One may think that, it being a suicide mission, this person really has no payback for their actions. I, however, believe that this person has been paying for this for some time now with mental and emotional anguish. A living hell, I have heard it called. In an act of desperation, with nothing left to lose, they chose this fateful action. I am sure our regular media outlets will shine more light on this as time goes by. But will they ever really get to the heart of the matter? How many are out there right now suffering alone in their mental anguish? How many of us are living our hell right here on earth? How long will society look down their noses and judge others without every really trying to understand? As long as we do not delve deeper, we will always stay on the shallow surface and never fix that which is truly broken. It is easy to judge actions that I can see on the surface. It is much harder to see beyond, reach out to my suffering brothers and sisters and share concern. Our pandemic mode and isolation do not help at all, either.

It will take action…small steps on each of our parts…but I know I want to be a part of the change this nation needs. “Let it begin with me”.