I have been challenged by some friends of mine that I should have written a response to the recent events at Virginian Tech that are so mind numbing. 32 people dead... because a student snapped and went on a rampage.
I struggled with this quite a bit... because I am not sure what to say... So times up... here are my unedited thoughts... I do not have a neat "answer" to make the horrible reality of this event into something that is neat and encouraging. This is not an encouraging event.
...I think that our society is too quick to assign blame on others and too slow to look in the mirror. Reporters were taking poles about whether the administration should be fired within hours of the events taking place. Tragedy is their business... it sells headlines and gets marketshare...
... I think that we do not really understand tragedy... if this was a tragedy... as we would all assume that it is... then what is the 160 people who died in Iraq from a car bomb on the same day... or the countless suicide attacks in the middle east... or the millions dying of Aids in africa... or the thousands who are still slaves today in 2007...
...The Virginia Tech shootings were entirely tragic... they were in every sense a tragedy... But what is the hardest for us as Americans and even as Christians are how close they are to home. They happened here. I felt really convicted about how numb I am to tragedy. It is happening everyday... all around... in the suburbs and in Somalia... Over "there"... and occasionally over here...
...Yet even though tragedy is a daily reality for so many... I am safe... or at least I feel safe here.. and since I feel safe the tragedies of others becomes my entertainment as I watch the evening news...
...What is wrong with me? What is wrong with us?...
...I am not sure what else to say other than this... This is not the way that things are supposed to be. In times like this, I think that the best thing that Christians can do is to reach out in love... physically if possible. We can refuse to allow hopelessness to overcome the hope that we have in Jesus. The fools hope that God is here with us in our suffering and struggle... that he loves us... and that his love is the difference that the world needs... his love demonstrated through our lives. We are the living hope that stands against the darkness.... or as the Apostle Paul says...
"Therefore we do not give up... though outwardly we are wasting away... on the inside we are being renewed each day... Our current struggles are temporary and are achieving in us an eternal Glory that will surpass them all... "
(2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
