As a nation we have become trapped in a strange theater, spectators gaping at the horror that unfolds before us, horrors that are anything but new. In October, a Jewish synagogue is riddled with bullets. Numerous pipe bombs are sent to political enemies. Two grocery shoppers in Kentucky are gunned down in a hate crime. These events shock, disturb and disorient — yet their impact — if we are mere observers, fades quickly, readying the slate clean for the next tragedy barreling toward us. ...