Recent Happenings

It's interesting that I ended the last post by saying how self centered this whole blog thing can feel sometimes. Because then you have an incident like what happened at Virginia Tech on Monday, and it seems appropriate to override my general practice of steering clear of politics or current events on this family friendly, come-one-come-all blogspot. (After all, if you want political commentary, you can always visit the WAND website...)

It's been a sad few weeks in this country. First we heard Don Imus' racist and sexist remarks and most of us were horrified (even if we also acknowledge our complicity in the brokenness of this world). We couldn't stop talking about Imus. Everyone had an opinion. But on Monday, we were stunned into silence by the sad happenings and awful violence at Virginia Tech. As if we needed more proof that we live in a violent world, we had a heart wrenching week in Iraq, with the death toll ticking along at a surreal rate.

Weeks like this, I'm glad we don't get tv. We do own a television, which we use (probably too often) for movies. But we don't get any channels in on our tv, and I don't regret not seeing the images that NBC aired and re-aired, causing such a controversy. Imagination was violence enough.

I'm always curious about why boys and young men shoot up a school and their classmates. And I personally believe we need stronger gun laws in this nation. But there is, excuse the pun, no magic bullet as to the cause of this senseless violence. Is it violent video games? The media? Marilyn Manson? Guns? A culture of fear? Revenge from kids who've been mercilessly picked on their whole lives? Insanity?

The minister in me wants to say this is a spiritual sickness, all this violence. The broken human condition.

We want to isolate a cause so that we can pronounce the cure. But I think there are no easy answers when it comes to all this hatred and violence.

I spend a lot of time with a baby in my arms these days, which means I can't help but think about the future. I've been thinking about the mother of the young man who did all that killing at VT. How excruciating it would be to watch your child get picked on in school. What kind of crazy grief she will hold for the rest of her life, wondering why and how her child did such a terrible thing. And of course I'm thinking about the mothers of all the dead...both in Blacksburg and in Baghdad. I can't begin to fathom...

Every day I'm thankful for another day of life, even in this world. Myles has no idea what's been going on this week, he's been smiling and laughing every day. Our saving grace.