Unbelievable Grief

Think No Evil Book

I just recently read the book Think No Evil about the shootings in the Amish school a few years ago. I was moved at the concept of forgiveness in that book and challenged to how I would respond the next time something so horrible happened. This week I've seen two instances on the news that directly deal with this topic. One was the shooting rampage in the Clackamus mall by a young man, and the other was by a gunman just three hours ago in an elementary school in Newtown Connecticut.
From all preliminary details the elementary school shooting sounds lke it will be far worse than the Clackamus one. I think I heard a minute ago that over 20 kids have been shot...and who knows how many are dead. I also heard that the shooter, a relative of someone at the school was also dead. The people around me responded with comments like, "GOOD!" and "He got off easy" and "He should have had to go to prison and be raped and beaten.." The first thing that came to my mind was the episode in the book I mentioned above where someone made a similar comment in front of the Amish families. Instead of feeling justified the immediate response was unhappy disapproval. They made a point of saying that as awful as it was, God loved that shooter just as much as He loved the victims. WOW....that is radical grace and forgiveness....radical love...radical love of God.
I know a lot of people are going to be angry and bitter, with comments like, "Where was God?!?" "If God is real why would he left something so horrible happen to defenseless children?!?!" and "This is why guns have to be outlawed!" etc. etc. Honestly...I haven't got a clue to why it was allowed to happen...I would kind of like to know myself. I also know you can't blame the guns...because crazy people are the ones doing the shooting and crazy people will always find a way to get a weapon...legal or not. So don't be tricked into thinking everything will be safe if they're just made illegal.
So for what it's worth, just pray for the families that lost kids, pray for the families that have kids that were hurt, and the ones who will have emotional issues for a long time to come. Pray for the adults and teachers who were there, pray for the family of the shooter(s) because they're also going to have hell to go through because of what was done. Just pray...pray for our country, for our leaders, for the people fo our nation....just pray...and maybe consider reading that book after the dust settles from this event. It might help you process the grief.

Love and empathy,
Belda