Life & Living:
Random Thoughts on Random Murder
I am writing this on Wednesday morning, two days after the rampage of a lone gunman on the campus of Virginia Tech University. One man plus two handguns equals thirty-three dead and dozens wounded. You have read the reports, seen them on television news; it was an apparent random killing spree, at least the one that began around 10 AM. The dark figure goes into a classroom and turns his guns loose on the professor and the students. When he is finished with that room he precedes to the next. He is mentally deranged. He is well armed. However, he saves one bullet for himself…and there are some things we will now never know.
Like you, I have listened carefully to the reports on television shows, to the endless line of experts evaluating each aspect of what happened, to psychologists analyzing the mind of the shooter, and to politicians, as well as ordinary people like you and me, wanting to do what it takes to insure that "something like this will never happen again."
But when it all shakes down, and the lawsuits are all over and done with, what can we humans do to prevent random, vicious violence? What laws can we pass; what educational programs can we enact; what restructuring of social life can we accomplish; what help can we offer the family; what can we do for people who have aggressive and violent tendencies (or that we think have such tendencies) to insure that "something like this will never happen again?"
I wish there was a magic pill, a secret word, a special sign, a particular book to read, a place to go where it would be guaranteed that warm blood would never flow down the hallways of our schools, on the highways of our states, in the bedrooms of our communities, and on the battlefields of the world. Alas, it will happen again and again.
It is unfortunate that we are fated to live in a world crippled by a natural order (including humans-all humans) that is doomed to failure. Something has gone wrong with the experiment, dreadfully wrong. Mr. Hyde has taken over Dr. Jekyll and there is no going back! Our scientists, physiatrists, educators, politicians, and sociologists can see what is wrong. The human community cannot live selflessly or humanely! Ego needs, individually and collectively, cast a blanket of fear across our lives; prejudice makes us suspicious of each other; the threat of death makes it impossible for us to rest easily.
An ancient author, rich beyond our wildest dreams, living a life that puts "Deal or No Deal" in the shade, wrote a small book on his experiences, the opening words of which tell us up front what his conclusion is:
Nothing makes sense!
Everything is nonsense.
I have seen it all-- nothing makes sense!1
Like him, we dream big dreams, dreams of peace, power, health, safety, and joy, and in the middle of those dreams something menacing arises to turn everything into a nightmare.
I confess that my words would be thoroughgoing cynicism were it not for one grand truth: God has made it possible for our lives to come to a good end. There can be a new ending to the classic story by Robert Louis Stevenson. It does not take Jekyll's suicide to do away with Hyde. Whatever other measures we take, a reinforced police force, a stronger National Guard, new ventures into the structures of the human mind, an educational system that has a moral goal, or whatever, turning to God is the crux of our hope. Just as Ecclesiastes seems as modern as the morning paper, so the prophet Isaiah has something for us to think seriously about. Near the end of his book, the man of Judea is given insight from above that concerns us today.
I am creating new heavens and a new earth;
everything of the past will be forgotten.
Celebrate and be glad forever!
I am creating a Jerusalem, full of happy people.
I will celebrate with Jerusalem and all of its people;
there will be no more crying or sorrow in that city.
No child will die in infancy;
everyone will live to a ripe old age.
Anyone a hundred years old will be considered young,
and to die younger than that will be considered a curse.
My people will live in the houses they build;
they will enjoy grapes from their own vineyards.
No one will take away their homes or vineyards.
My chosen people will live to be as old as trees,
and they will enjoy what they have earned.
Their work won't be wasted,
and their children won't die of dreadful diseases.
I will bless their children and their grandchildren.
I will answer their prayers before they finish praying.
Wolves and lambs will graze together;
lions and oxen will feed on straw.
Snakes will eat only dirt!
They won't bite or harm anyone on my holy mountain.
I, the LORD, have spoken!2
You have to make some adjustments in the language, of course, but Isaiah's vision of a hopeful future has everything we want: a longer life, a safer life, a peaceful life, a happier life, a confidence in God that nothing can shake. The complete realization of Isaiah's knowledge comes to us in Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Now we can talk about life rather than death, security rather than fear, about mental health rather than mental illness. We may yet have to wait a while for a changed earth but we can live a changed life…and because of that we can smile and rest in the shade of a good future.
Jerry Mercer
__________________________________________________
1The Book of Ecclesiastes, 1:1, Contemporary English Version
2Chapter 65:17-25. CEV.
|
