My humanity is inextricably bound up in yours. Aggression remains the emotional default for many people, however indirectly or calmly it may manifest. True healing is possible without recognition of our common humanity and our coming destiny. We are fundamentally social creatures—our brains are wired to foster working and play together. Trauma devastates the social-engagement system and interferes with cooperation, nurturing, and the ability to function as a productive member of the tribe. We have seen how many mental health problems, from drug addiction to self-injurious behavior, start of as attempts to cope with emotions that became unbearable because of a lack of adequate human contact and support. However, institutions that deal with traumatized children and adults all too often bypass the emotional-engagement system that is the foundation of who we are and instead focus narrowly on correcting “faulty thinking” and on suppressing unpleasant emotions and troublesome behavior. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 8

We are on the verge of becoming a trauma-conscious society. Almost every day, we hear another report on how trauma is disrupting the workings of the mind, brain, and body. Just yesterday, 25 July 2016, at 2.30am, Tokyo, Japan experienced the country’s worst massacre in decades. A suspect named Satoshi Uematsu claimed that disabled people were worthless and reported that he wanted to kill at least 470 of them. He went on a bloody rampage with a knife that least at least 19 people dead and 26 others seriously injured at the adult care facility for the disabled. Petrified staff at the Tsuki Yamayuri En (Tsukui Lily Garden) facility in Sagamihara, south of Tokyo, Japan, called the police at about 2.30am local time, after the suspect went insane, and slaughtered several people. After the Monday massacre, Satoshi Uematsu drove to a local police station and turned himself in. The 26-year-old former employee reported, “I did it. It is better that disabled people disappear.” #RyanPhillippe 2 of 8

Satoshi Uematsu was carrying a bag full of knives and other sharp-edged tools, some of which were bloodstained, when he handed himself in. Nine women and ten men were killed, and they were all disabled and ranged in age from 18 to 70.  Authorities reported that Satoshi Uematsu had, prior to this massacre, been involuntarily committed to a hospital on 19 February 2016, after the police in the town of Tsukui, Japan contacted him in response to a letter he had attempted to pass to the speaker of the lower house of Japan’s parliament. In the letter, the 26-year-old Satoshi Uematsu argued that the government should permit euthanasia for disabled people because they drain resources and make the lives of other horrible since they cannot accept responsibility for their actions, nor care for themselves and have poor social and physical hygiene. He also went on to say that he would be willing to carry out such killings himself, and detailed how he would do it. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 8

In his manifesto, Satoshi Uematsu reported, “I envision a World where a person with multiple disabilities can be euthanized, with an agreement from the guardians, when it is difficult for the person to carry out household and social activities.” He went on to say that, he wanted to “wipe out a total of 470 disabled individuals, by targeting two facilities for the disabled people, during the night shift when the staff is low the act will be carried out speedily, and definitely without harming the staff. After wiping out the 260 people in two facilities, I will turn myself.” (I realize the numbers do not add up, but that is a direct quote from the suspect.) Even with this letter, and being hospitalized on the 19 February 2016, Satoshi Uematsu was released from the hospital on 2 March 2016. It was reported that Satoshi Uematsu then smashed a window with a hammer, on Monday, 25 July 2016, at around 2.00am, and took out his range on the 45 victims, leaving 19 of them mortally wounded. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 8

By learning about how trauma impacts people, we hope to save lives through early intervention in the lives of people from poor and troubled families, by increasing high school graduation, reducing their criminality, and increasing their employment rates. It had also been privately reported that Satoshi Uematsu had been fired from the disabled facility, but we cannot confirm that information. All the World, I meet people who take these data seriously and who work tirelessly to develop and apply more effective interventions, whether devoted teacher, social workers, doctor, therapists, nurses, philanthropists, theater directors, prison guard, police officers, or teachers. Advances in neuroscience have given us a better understanding of how trauma changes brain development, self-regulation, and the capacity to stay focused and in tune with others. Sophisticated imaging techniques have identified the origins of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the brain, so that we now understand why traumatized people become disengaged, why they are bothered by sounds, and lights, and why they may blow up or withdraw in response to the slightest provocation. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 8

We have learned how, throughout life, experiences change the structure and function of the brain—and even affect the genes we pass on to our children. Understanding many of the fundamental processes that underlie traumatic stress open the door to an array of interventions that can bring the brain areas related to self-regulation, self-perception, and attention back online. We know not only know how to treat trauma but also, increasingly, how to prevent it. And yet, after attending another wake for a teenager killed at a house party, in the Meadowview area of Sacramento, in a drive-by-shooting or after reading about the latest budget cuts in impoverished cities and towns due $19.4 trillion national deficit, I find myself close to despair. Where traumatized children are concerned, the last thing we should be cutting from school schedules are the activities that can help them heal: chorus, physical education, recess, art, theatre, math, science, computer science, history, English, auto shop, wood shop, economics, foreign language, and anything else that involves movement, play, and other forms of joyful engagement is a requirement before we take on problems we cannot handle! #RyanPhillippe 6 of 8

In many ways, we seem to be regressing, with measures like the callous congressional elimination of food coupons, for children whose parents are unemployed or in jail; with the stubborn opposition diversity of low income housing in some quarters; with psychiatry’s obtuse refusal to make a connection between psychic suffering and social conditions; and with our tolerance for incarcerating a huge segment of our population, wasting their lives as well as our resources, but continuing to take in immigrants we know nothing about. People can learn to control and change their behavior, but only if they feel safe enough to experiment in heartbreaking and gut-renovating situations, then out first priority is to help people move out of this state where they feel that there is no one they can talk to about their concerns and that they either need to attack, stand their ground, or escape. Reorganizing their perception of danger, and managing their relationship with the people they are having ongoing problems with seems to a way we can help them. Far more Americans have died at the hands of their partners or other family members than in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. American women are twice as likely to suffer domestic violence as breast cancer. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that firearms kill twice as many children as cancer does. #RyanPhillippe 7 of 8

You remember Kathryn Steinle who was killed by an illegal immigrant in San Francisco, California USA, how many more times to we have to see tragedies like this take place? All around Sacramento, California USA I see signs for the new King’s area and how proud people are $508 million tax payer dollars went to pay for the complex without taxpayer consent, but we seem too embarrassed or discouraged to deal with the lack of affordable housing, the lack of reservoirs and water, the lack of police, and we are by far too ashamed to mount a massive effort to help children and adults learn to deal with the fear, rage, and collapse, the predictable consequences of having been traumatized. I wish I could separate trauma from politics, but as long as we continue to live in denial and treat only trauma while ignoring its origins, we are bound fail as a community, city, state, and country. People’s income, family structure, housing, employment, and educational opportunities affect not only their risk of developing traumatic stress, but also their risk of developing unemployment, inferior schools, social isolation, and substandard housing, which are all breeding grounds for corruption, crime, disease, conflict, and trauma. Trauma breeds further trauma; hurt people hurt other people. #RyanPhillippe 8 of 8