How many families have to be devastated by the impact of this disease before we make mental illness a priority in this country? One in four is sick. If it were influenza, it would be an epidemic.

Following a public act of unspeakable horror, like the shootings in Connecticut or Aurora, mental health professionals are asked to explain why or how a person could hurt others so profoundly. And then we are asked how to identify such people and prevent these violent acts.

The future has its surprises. Even the most farseeing among us, are -- for better or worse -- regularly caught off-guard by what tomorrow has to offer. Take the murderous acts of two disturbed young men.

Do we really have the courage to stop the marketing of the culture of death that only brightens the fatal allure of its instruments? Not unless we can curb not only gun abuses but also our gladiatorial diet of doom.