Perhaps the most disturbing image to emerge of deceased mass killer Audrey Hale — which, having surveyed the catalog, is saying something — is a shot of her sneakers dangling in the air as she lay on her back in a park. Her bright red Velcro-strapped Nikes would be ideal for a kindergartener, as would her baby-blue pajama bottoms that feature multicolored billiards balls. The caption “to be a kid forever” is scrawled across the blue sky in the background and is flanked by cartoon drawings of animal characters.

Other images of Hale include a heartbreaking photo of her sitting beside her mother with an arm around her shoulders. Here again, she is wearing oversized pajama pants and a Transformers sweatshirt. Another image shows her desk at work, where she apparently worked as an illustrator. The desk included a framed cartoon drawing of a lion, along with various other children’s decorations. Hale stands in the background of this shot, wearing a tie and sporting a boyish haircut. It appears to have been taken during the time of her “transition” to becoming a boy named “Aiden” who uses male pronouns .

Though in her late 20s, she has the air of a teenager struggling to leave her childhood behind and who is perhaps having trouble connecting with people who no longer find it “cool” to watch cartoons or play with toys.

This alone seems odd. But it is now the norm for adults to act and appear as children. Grownups drearily complain about “adulting," or having to attend to perfectly normal responsibilities that prior generations attacked with relish as an expression of independence. Adults today are more caught up in superhero movies now than they were as children. They spend entire work shifts scrolling through TikTok. They live with their parents in record numbers. They play "dress up" on the weekends and call it "cosplay," as if this distinction lends it an air of dignity.

I think of this fact whenever I walk past a war memorial or catch a few minutes of a war documentary on PBS. I imagine what past veterans would say if they could see us now. Is this really how we've chosen to use the freedom purchased with their blood?

This trend also manifests itself in other ways. Yesterday, before news broke of the massacre in Nashville, the Wall Street Journal released a poll that detailed the changing values of Americans over the past quarter-century. The findings revealed a precipitous decline in the percent of people who value religion, patriotism, community involvement, and, perhaps most distressingly, having children. Many online were quick to attribute the latter to the rising cost of child-rearing. But personal finances alone can’t explain a 50% drop in desiring children. A better explanation is that we’re steeped in frivolity and have forgotten what makes life worth living.

It should come as no surprise that those most addicted to juvenile video clips and play-acting are miserable. Like children, they eschew the realities of existence but without the excuse of youth. College temporarily masks their arrested development by providing “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings” that don’t exist in the real world and end up causing them more harm than good. They carry themselves as if common difficulties are somehow abnormal and unjust and that they deserve to swim through life unperturbed. They relentlessly complain about it to one another, as if the nature of reality shouldn't apply to them, as if we all aren't slated to become worm food.

The resentment of the Forever Children inevitably festers and crescendos. Humans weren't meant to remain as children forever but instead to grow into independent men and women. Our failure to achieve this naturally frustrates the soul. In the worst cases, this resentment turns inward, not only toward the self but toward the source of self: existence itself. That’s when Hell breaks loose.

Meanwhile, the Left ignores all this and focuses exclusively on gun reform, as if that would address anything even resembling the root cause of this nightmare. Right now, at this moment, they are feigning tears and patting themselves on the back for their righteousness while ignoring the serious cultural rot that is taking place in our country. It’s enough to make me vomit.

What we really need is to make our children strong again. We need to teach them how to get back up when they get knocked down. We need America to grow up — and fast.

Peter Laffin is a contributor at the Washington Examiner and the founder of Crush the College Essay. His work has also appeared in RealClearPolitics, the Catholic Thing, the National Catholic Register, and the American Spectator.