Friday, April 20, 2007

Blacksburg

Had dinner with friends last night and came home with many conflicting thoughts....

The tragic assault on the student at Virginia Tech was appalling ... no doubt about it and the rush by various news agencies to peer into the souls of the grieving families turns my stomach. Likewise, the vultures among us who are fascinated by the shooter, an obviously tormented and severely mentally ill young man.

During dinner last night, I realized my reaction is not the norm. Yes, I feel immense sadness for the families and the tragedy of those lives cut short but I also feel immense sadness for the shooter. Caught deep in his delusional psychosis, so many warning signs ineffectively handled, he was a time bomb waiting to happen. I can only pray that our merciful God can heal his heart and ours.

As I drifted off to sleep last night, my thoughts ....we (Americans) are so preoccupied with these random and sporadic episodes of violence and continue to dwell on 9/11.

What would we do if we lived in a place where everyday 15 - 150 people die??? (Sudan, Iraq, etc.) We need to look outside our country to put this event in perspective.

Hopefully, my next post will be more upbeat....
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1 comment:

Rach said...

I agree with you, Mom. I will never forget the cold feeling in the pit of my stomach when I went to cnn.com and saw the picture of the VT shooter with his gun pointed AT the camera.. I think there is a fine line between appropriate media coverage and overkill, and as usual, the media went overboard. You made a good point with your statement about perspective... I think on the same day as the VA shootings, 170 people were killed in two seperate bombings in Iraq. Tis a sad world when we become desensitized to this kind of thing happening overseas (and out of our minds). Perspective is key. :-)

April 21, 2007 at 4:08 AM

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