April 21, 2007

• Virginia Tech

  I have not said anything about the Virginia Tech shootings.  I devoted more attention to Imus.  Maybe I should say something, but I find myself with nothing to say.  There is nothing that I can say.  It was horrible, that is obvious. There are countless lives changed forever by what happened.  I did not know anyone there, and have never visited the campus.  I cannot pretend to have any idea as to the depth of the pain of loss that the families and friends of the victims are feeling.  I can also not begin to imagine a family that has not only lost a son, but must bear the guilt of all the pain and suffering that he has brought upon unnumbered lives.

  When things like the Cho shooting happen, it is very easy to want to find explanations and place blame somewhere.  Terrible things happen, and in an attempt to understand and deal with our own pain (even though we have nothing to do with any of the events personally) we try to put the pieces of the puzzle together, cause and effect.  There are some things that we just don't know and will never know.   We will never know what caused this young man to go on a rampage, whether he was sick, maladjusted or just plain evil. 

  I understand that Cho's parents are in hiding under government protection, and are being moved to a new location every day. I am not 100% that this is true, but I heard on one news broadcast that the parents are Christians, and that mother and son had frequent painful discussions about his spiritual condition.  How painful that they could see their son not adjusting to life and could do nothing to help him.  How horrible that his poor mother must be looking up to God screaming out "WHY?"   How horrible that she will have to spend the rest of her life doing this!  How would I feel if a child of mine did such a thing?  Cho's mother probably wishes that her son had just pulled the trigger in the pictures that were sent to the media.  Can one even imagine a mother having such feelings?

  Children do not always follow the hearts of their parents.  Maybe they did not realized the trouble Cho was having at school.  Maybe they did not realize that he might have some kind of a chemical imbalance in his brain.  Maybe they did realize that a naturally shy kid was having terrible trouble adjusting to a new language and a new country. (I might want to smack the kids who teased him in school.)   It is not easy to deal with as an adult, and must be more difficult for a child who does not have any control over the situation.  There is a new theory that he may have been autistic.  A person cannot be arrested if they have not committed a crime.  They cannot be counseled if they refuse to go.  Do we know anything about what went on in the Cho house?  His sister seems to have turned out all right, so his parents must not have been totally dysfunctional.  Again, children do not always follow the hearts of their parents, to the parents' heartbreak.

  There were some horrible crimes going on here in Japan a few years back, and I had a dream that my son was doing them.  I woke up feeling horrible, of course.  Then that very morning, a kid the same age as my son was arrested for the gory crimes.  I had a tiny taste of what the arrested boy's family must have been feeling.

  There are too many maybes here, and there are some puzzles that can never be put together.  Sometimes it does little good to ask the questions, and less good to try to put the pieces together.  Bystanders who theorize, try to establish cause and effect based on theory and then stand in judgement are not really helpful.  Perhaps it is because bystanders related or unrelated to the tragic events would want to take retribution that the Cho family is in hiding.  Perhaps they had something to do with how their son turned out and perhaps they didn't.  We just don't know and should be careful of making rash statements on the basis of our lack of knowledge.

  Questions asked with the intent of preventing such tragedies from happening again are a different matter. 

  Grace to You had done a special program on the tragedy broadcast on April 20.  I have not had a chance to listen yet, but will do so when I get time.  The Imus flap raised many questions about what is acceptable under "free speech."  Perhaps the events at Virginia Tech will help us reexamine the way that the media presents and the way we accept violence and mayhem on our TV screens under the guise of "entertainment."  When actors portray violence on film they receive awards, but when people imitate the "art," the results are shattering.  Perhaps the tragic shootings may also help us all remember to reach out to those who are in trouble before it is too late. 

  In Romans 8:28 God promises that he will work ALL things together for good for those that love him.  Let us pray that His will to work the horrible events that took place to his purposes will indeed be carried out. 

  • 09:43
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