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Polito's Take: Cowards bring out the best in us

The following three men have a lot in common.

In July of 2012, James Egan Holmes walked into a midnight showing of a movie wearing tactical clothing, he threw tear gas canisters just before opening fire on the audience, killing 12, injuring 70 others in Aurora, Colorado.

Just days before last Christmas, Adam Lanza went on a shooting rampage and killed 27 people including an entire class of first grade kids in Newtown, Connecticut.

On Monday, Aaron Alexis opened fire in a Washington, D.C. navy building, killing 12 people as they sipped coffee and ate breakfast.

Obviously, these men are all connected to slaughters of innocent people. They all played video games.  It is safe to assume, even without a background in medicine, that they all have or had mental health issues. Finally, they are all cowards because they chose what terrorists would call a soft target. This is a location with innocent, unsuspecting people who have little or no protection. With the exception of the navy yard, there were no armed guards.

These men wanted to cause the maximum carnage with minimal resistance. In their twisted minds, they believed they were getting revenge, or making some point that they wanted the world to know. These evil killers actually do teach us something and it's ironic because they turned average people into super heroes. Following all three massacres, we heard stories of people who risked their lives to save others. In Newtown, Aurora, and the Navy yard, people acted as human shields, pulled the wounded out of the line of fire, or attempted to stop the gunman. We'll soon hear more grisly details from inside the navy yard building, but we'll also find out about the heroes.

No matter how much the odds are stacked in favor of the cowards, the good guys will always prevail.