Another school shooting. Can you believe it? It seems that these are becoming commonplace. I don't even remember the name of this past shooter.
I guess my question is "Why are these shootings happening at all?" Did we send messages to people saying that they should kill others before they killed themselves? What went wrong?
There is no one thing that went wrong. I think things have been going wrong for a very long time and we are reaping the harvest of seeds sown without realizing what we have been doing.
I suppose the only reason someone would shoot others is because they are angry. It isn't that they are necessarily angry with the persons they kill but that the persons they kill represent those whom they are angry with. Obviously, a person who commits suicide can see no other means of solving their problems. These murder-suicides seem to be the solutions to minds which have no hope.
Why do they have no hope? They feel as if they are in a totally dark room looking for a door that isn't there. Eventually, they just give up.
What about their anger? Do they know what to do with anger? It builds to a point that all of this seems rational.
Don't they care about the lives of others? Or, do they think others have no right to have a life if they can't have one? If life always ends with death, this is only about length, not destination.
I believe that we are not communicating values that will help people cope with difficulties. People do not value life because we have made life something that can be terminated by others legally. Millions of the abortions performed in this country were simply to avoid an inconvenient pregnancy. These shooters are justified if convenience determines life's value.
We are able to clone life and that makes us a giver of life. That also gives us the impression that we have the right to end it. The scientist giveth and taketh away. Blessed be the name of the scientist.
We have lost hope. If we believe there is no purpose greater than our own; no Being whose plans are being carried out for our good, then our own purpose or lack thereof will die with us. There is an extreme emptiness when we see ourselves in such brevity that we will have had no reason for living. What difference does it make anyway if we do not exist beyond this life?
I believe much differently. I believe that there is a God who seeks my good. He works to bring goodness into my life. I see Him take those things that I have done wrong, those things that were done wrong to me and those things through circumstances which seemed so wrong and work them together for my good. Tomorrow may not be better than today but better than today is coming.
I believe that life is valuable and I must invest myself in others lives to help them have a better life. I believe they will last forever and that my investment in them will never go away.
I believe I need to forgive people who harm me. I know there are times I need forgiveness too. I have been forgiven. I know that. I must grant that to others. I do so for my own sake as much as I do it for them. I just can't walk around angry all the time. It takes too much energy.
I believe we wouldn't have school shootings or any other shootings if these potential shooters believed the same as I do.
Of course, this is just another easy answer from a religious nut. Right?
