Over the past several weeks, faithful readers have been opening their Sunday papers to find that the obituaries section has extended onto the majority of the front page. With events of mass violence such as the shootings at the Washington Navy Yard and a Chicago park, the bombing of a church in Pakistan, and the attack on Kenya’s Westgate Mall piling up as of late, many have been compelled to ask “Why?”

Each of these recent acts of large-scale violence has its own immediate explanation: the Kenya mall shooting and Pakistani church bombing were acts of terrorism, the Chicago park shooting was likely gang-related, and the Navy Yard shooting was the act an unstable conspiracy theorist. It seems odd, however, that so many morbid events could happen in such quick succession purely coincidentally.  And these four are merely the most recent: mass tragedies have been plaguing the papers in increasing quantities over the course of the year, including such standouts as Aurora, Colorado and Sandy Hook. Could it be possible that something larger is at play in our society?

Upon examination, all four of the most recent tragedies have one thing in common: they all make a statement. The September 22nd church bombing in Pakistan is just one attack in a wave of terrorism inspired by age-old religious tensions – in this case, the attackers, members of a militant Sunni extremist group, targeted a Christian mass to make their “message” clear. Meanwhile, the September 21st attack on Westgate Mall in Nairobi raged for four days, driven by terrorist organization Al-Shabaab’s radical religious motives. In Chicago on September 19th, two gunmen, angered by an earlier battle with a rival gang, shot 13 people on the rival’s “territory”. Finally, the clearly unstable Aaron Alexis entered Washington’s Navy Yard on September 16th and shot 16 people – 12 of whom were killed – under the impression that the government was controlling him and others using ELFs, or “extremely low frequency electromagnetic waves.”

Clearly, there are many factors that go into tragedies of this caliber, but it is notable that each of these recent events was carried out with keen awareness of the attention it would receive. Aaron Alexis of the Navy Yard shooting traveled with flash drives explaining his conspiracy theories and etched his weapon with statements such as, “End to the torment!”, “Not what y’all say!”, and “Better off this way!” – words that were meant to be seen. The gunman in Chicago was a part of a gang rivalry, realizing that there was no better place to assert his gang’s dominance than on the national stage. And the acts of terrorism in Pakistan and Kenya were each completed with a specific religious message in mind: both attacks targeted non-Muslims and were boldly carried out in broad daylight.

Regardless of the validity of their “messages”, the perpetrators of these tragedies apparently – and unfortunately – felt the need to convey their positions through violence.  This grievous trend has equally baffled and saddened news-readers as of late, and it seems the public is merely holding its breath, bracing for the next great tragedy.

There is no telling how long this pattern will continue, but until an end is near, it is important not to lose sight of the motives behind these heinous acts. Although we may never understand how such violence could be executed, we can at least try to understand why. Herein is the first step toward preventing this trend from continuing – and, ultimately, toward a solution.