At 10:25 AM on Sunday, September 28th, a man drove his truck through the doors of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township. Inside, as hundreds of people worshipped, he opened fire and set the sanctuary ablaze. The attack was swift and brutal, but this was not a random act of violence. It was a symptom of a deeper sickness—a nation consumed by rage, at war with the sacred.
As the details of the shooting emerged, so did the inevitable, pre-written script. Within hours, news outlets began their work, asking the question of “motive” while already providing the answer: politics. The focus is already shifting to Thomas Sanford’s political views, deliberately paving the way for the same two-dimensional fight over extremism and gun control. This isn’t an investigation; it’s the deployment of a familiar narrative designed to distract from a far more uncomfortable truth.
The people of America are TIRED of the extreme, repetitive and violently loud arguments. Creating the same narrative over and over again with each passing tragedy isn’t resolving or shaping our future for the better. It’s an unneeded and overly used distraction from the core issues. News media and politicians are missing the mark time and time again. This isn’t about the weapon; it’s about the man. It’s not about left vs. right; it’s about a nation hollowed out from the inside. We have a three-fold disease running rampant through America’s veins, and the shooting Thomas Sanford enacted in a Michigan church today is a tragic symptom of it: unchecked rage, a vacuum of faith, and a fractured American psyche.
The Anatomy of Modern Rage
To understand why this happened, we must first understand the man. By all external measures, Thomas Sanford was the embodiment of the American dream. At 40 years old, he was a husband of 11 years, a father to a 10-year-old son, and a Marine who served his country in Iraq. For the last 12 years, he held a skilled, stable job as a journeyman lineman. He had no criminal record. Neighbors described his home life as happy. The biography is not one of a monster, but of a man who seemingly bled Red, White, and Blue. And that is precisely what makes this so terrifying.
Why does a man with a seemingly perfect life decide to pack his truck with American flags and IEDs, ram it into a church, and open fire on hundreds of worshippers? The simple answer is that the exterior was a lie. As Elle Woods famously said, “…Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t!” Something inside Thomas Sanford was cracking, and it’s a fracture we must be willing to inspect. This is not to condone his actions, but to look past the shallow public narrative and into the epidemic truly affecting our nation.
Consider the immense, silent burdens this man carried. The invisible weight of a tour in Iraq. The daily grind of providing for a family in a broken economy. The psychological pressure of being a strong husband and father in a culture that relentlessly sends contradictory messages. This is the core of the modern Masculine Paradox: society tells men their strength is toxic, but their weakness is unacceptable. They are publicly chastised for their very nature, then silenced when they try to speak.
The explosive rage we saw in Michigan is not an isolated incident. We see it everywhere—on social media, in our streets, and in the tragic headlines from schools and places of worship. It is a symptom of a society that has forgotten how to build and celebrate resilient men. We have created a generation of men with no healthy outlet for their pain, frustration, or sense of failure, and we are now witnessing the brutal consequences.
The War on the Sacred
The question still stands, “why this target?” This wasn’t a random act of violence taken out on an innocent passing by. This was decided on, planned, and executed. The church is a symbol of sanctuary, order, community, and moral authority. Whatever motive comes to light as research continues, Thomas Sanford was at war with his soul.
This was an act of chaos against order, nihilism against meaning, despair against hope. The chosen target wasn’t just against people, but the idea of a sacred space. Our nation has been in a mass spiritual war for years now. We have seen a heavy spiritual decline in our families, homes, schools, and public institutions. A nation founded on the principle of God has become lost. When we lose our connection to God and the transcendent, it creates a vacuum. Our minds have been poisoned and re-trained. Our youth have been indoctrinated through institutions we were raised to trust. America has a void in its soul, and has allowed it to be filled with ideologies of rage, resentment, and violence.
If God does not exist, everything is permitted.
– Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Fractured American Psyche
The fact is that the shooting that occurred is horrific and tragic. But Thomas Sanford is not an anomaly, he is a product of our environment. Our nation is engulfed in rage and violence right now, but we are still talking about the same things. Their political stance, attacks on free speech and religion, gun rights, and who to point fingers at this time. Enough is enough! This is the time to stop pointing fingers at whoever’s face is blowing up on the news and stand firm that we have a serious mental health crisis nationwide. It’s not picking and choosing who to affect because of their beliefs, political stance, or geographic location; mental illness knows no boundaries. We are letting it surge, and letting those affected by it run the roost, suffer, and create more suffering around them.
The mental health epidemic isn’t just about the shallow topics we keep harping on. This isn’t a lack of therapists, pro or anti-medicine conversation anymore. We don’t have a lack of healthcare creating the surge, we have a lack in concepts of purpose, belonging, and hope. This is about the culture we have allowed to take the American heart that promotes division and fear non-stop. The current American psyche is composed of anxiety, distrust, and a constant low-grade state of emergency. This is the water we are all swimming in, and we are starting to drown.
The Sovereign Response
For so long we have looked at our nation’s issues to be solved by a top-down response. That is not how we fix our problems this time and moving forward. We have a cracked foundation. The only way to rebuild strong is from the bottom-up. New laws and political victories create movement on the line we are already travelling. They will not heal America, they will not fix our nation’s foundation, and they will not turn the tide to mend our soul.
We the people have to take charge. Sitting back and expecting others to make the problems go away while we complain is lazy. It’s time to stop watching and start doing. We have to rebuild our hearth – family, community, and church. These are the institutions that forge character, embody healing, and combat the illness of rage and despair. The political commentators will ask what the government should do. As the Unfiltered Strategist I am asking: What are YOU going to do to rebuild your family and community?
It starts right now. Today. Within yourself. What will you do?
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