The world we live in can be a scary one sometimes.

Recent sniper shootings outside of Washington, D.C., have citizens of our nation’s capitol leaving their homes with caution. These shootings are random, unprovoked and anyone is a potential victim.

As of Thursday, six shooting deaths in Maryland and Virginia have been linked to a single gunman, and two others are recovering from their injuries.

Wednesday night, a man was killed with a single bullet to the head after pumping gas at a Manassas, Va., station. Authorities are investigating whether or not this shooting is related to the others.

It used to be that murderers had motives for their killing. These days, it seems, killers could come for anyone.

A motive is by no means justification for taking the life of another, but the apparent lack of motives in recent killings have sent a chill down the collective spine of America.

Are we dealing with legitimate psychos, or someone with a vendetta against society as a whole?

The first option is probably more likely because anyone who takes a life in cold blood is probably insane.

But what separates this sniper from the man who has killed three attractive, athletic women in Baton Rouge, La., in the past year?

Not much.

While the Louisianna murders seem connected by the fact that all three victims were women, no apparent motives exist for their murders. Investigators are saying that the killer probably presented himself to the women as a ‘pretty nice guy,’ and that the women were not raped.

Whatever the reason for these latest murders, they again illustrate the moral state of the United States in 2002.

While premeditated murders are down in most big cities, high-profile random killings have seen an increase in the last year or so.

The gravest of acts-taking another person’s life-has become just another blurb on the 6 o’clock news and another headline in the newspaper. Most Americans are not shaken up by the murders in Washington, D.C., and Louisianna, but rather feel disconnected from the evils that are happening somewhere else.

We truly have been desensitized to evil acts such as murder. One specific source is not to blame for this, we are. The world is farther away from God than ever, and as a result, innocent people are dying.