SATISFIED MIND

“How many times have you heard someone say,

If I had his money, I could do things my way,

But little they know that it’s so hard to find,

One rich man in ten with a satisfied mind.”

To those who aren’t familiar with it, those are the words that start the song, “Satisfied Mind.” It was originally recorded by Faron Young in 1955.

I have always liked the song because it has such a deep message. But this is not about traveling down the memory lane of classic country music. No, this has more meaning.

Ever since the tragic mass shooting in Las Vegas many have been trying to make sense of the act. They have been looking for a motive, a reason. What would possess an individual to commit such a senseless, heinous act? Did he just snap? How long had he planned this massacre? Did he have an escape plan? Was he just a nut case?  

From all published information, it appears this particular nut case was a millionaire. He owned at least two private airplanes, had a pilot’s license, owned as many as five different houses and had a lot of money in the bank. He had been a very successful real estate investor as well as a lucky high stakes gambler. It has been reported that he made five million dollars last year gambling. He had a girlfriend of many years. I don’t know if he ever had children but from all indications he was an extremely successful man. So, what happened? Why did he snap?

Over the next few weeks and months we are going to hear opinion after opinion from expert after expert as to why. There will probably be long drawn out discussions of psychological explanations to try and put a cause to this causeless action.

Well I, being no slouch and given as I am to wild opinion, have developed one of my own and I offer it here for your consideration. Mind you I do not bring to this discussion degrees in psychology. I do not bring in years of experience in dealing with the criminally insane. No, I just bring common sense.

What if this killer was nothing more than just bored with his worthless life? What if he just found no challenge in anything? He obviously had achieved success in most of his endeavors. Maybe he was just dissatisfied with his meaningless life and wanted to put an exclamation mark on it. Some call it going out with a bang. It is also obvious that he had much more death and destruction in mind before he was interrupted by his own cowardly suicide.

There was material in his car that could have easily been turned into a bomb capable of blowing up thousands more depending on where he drove the car.

So far, the people who knew him could offer no motive. They never saw anything like this in him. His brother said he was just a regular guy. Well, inside this “regular guy” was an evil brewing that would most certainly record his name in the history book of mass murderers. He will have achieved at least one of his objectives, notoriety.

This could be nothing more than an individual who, having lived an unchallenged life, sought satisfaction and couldn’t find it as normal people do. So, he does the unthinkable.

The song finishes this way.

“The wealthiest person is a pauper at times,

Compared to the man with a satisfied mind.”

Ron Scarbro