Why I finally decided against being a Serial Killer
I have a little police background. Maybe that is why articles about crime and especially criminals always kindle my interest. Profiling is something that I am very curious about when it comes to crime-how a criminal is identified and put in a category according to his personality, history and habits that makes it easier to trace his criminal activities and to stop them. Maybe this is why an Atlantic article caught my attention this morning…
It was an article that had some good news and some unsettling news alongside it. The good news it shared was that there seem to be much fewer serial killers than before. Jail sentences and the growing abundance of security cameras account for that. The unsettling news is that when it comes to serial killer murders, the rate at which the current cases are solved, fell from 91 one percent in the sixties to just over 60 percent today. There are fewer serial killers but the ones there are, seem to be much better and cunning than they have ever been. A quarter of serial killers gets away with what they are doing. Now try to have a good night sleep with that as a closing thought for the day!
An FBI report from 2016 stated that if there would be an ideal profession for a serial killer it would be that of a truck driver. An astonishing high number of serial Killer victims are found alongside highways. You don’t even need to read Stephen King to get the picture…a truck is a common sight in even small towns. So, nobody notices and most see no sense in befriending or even getting to know the driver. Should this driver be a serial killer, he can strike and leave without a trace to who knows where. Indeed, a high number of serial killers were employed in the long-haul industry. Their targets were mainly woman who led transient and promiscuous lifestyles and wandered for obvious reasons. Our increasing geographical mobility along with things like the weakening of institutions and a lacking focus on the local community made more and more people similar versions of these girls, transient wanderers vulnerable to be taken advantage of.
I dare say even bad parents never wish for their children to become serial killers. That they are less than before (serial killers but perhaps also bad parents) are encouraging. That it seems to be easier to do it and get away with it when you do is reason for concern.
And so this got me thinking. If a serial killer is the absolutely worst thing one could become in life, what would be it’s polar opposite? Because that must be a very worthy ideal to strive for, not true? I would love to hear your take on this but hear me out on the answer that I came up with…
The opposite of a serial killer would be a serial follower of Jesus. See, the “serial” part of the depiction “serial killer” describes the fact that these killers go about intentionally and methodically. They choose their victims, they study them, plan and then execute the murders. The murders are usually a form of self-expression and bound together by a theme. A man will for instance murder young blond woman, expressing his hate for what his mother did to him when she was a young blond woman. So a serial follower would also have intention, discipline and a unifying theme in his or her life. They wouldn’t have victims but they would target specific people to be recipients of good things they have to offer. The good they do will also be a form of self-expression and possibly one leading to healing and well-being rather than to ever lower levels of hate and self-loathing.
I have only met one serial killer in my lifetime (that is a story for another time). But I am glad to tell you I have met many serial followers of Jesus. People who set out on a course that seeks to help a specific kind of person orphans, lonely people, the elderly, drug addicted folk or the hungry and homeless. Some I have known for years and it is noticeable that their capacity for love and peace seem to increase over time even though they have some days where they feel like giving up. I have noticed that most of them never get “caught”. That is because you are most effectively a serial follower and do-gooder when you fly under the radar. Also because people tend to focus on the negative rather than the positive. Case in point is that there are much more crime shows than shows going into the intricacies of helping others.
I don’t know if you have a New Years resolution yet but here is a challenge: Strive to become a serial follower of Jesus this year. Don’t tie your identity up in your day job or even in your family roles but see them as things that enables you to live out your true passion and calling as a serial follower.
And pray that God will plant way more serial followers than serial killers among the long-haul crowd even if it is a difficult occupation to be a good guy in. There are many jobs like this.
Gabriel J Snyman
January 5th 2021