Damage Control

Estimated reading time: 4 minute(s)

I have been refraining from any comment on the events that transpired at Virginia Tech last week. I did post the one e-mail we received from our friend at VT. I thought it was a good “different” perspective on what happened. There was no need to rehash the events “news-style” here. It just felt over-done in every media “outlet” anyway.

But I have heard some interesting things in regards to the reactions to it. From applauding the professor in his 70s (who was a holocaust survivor) for barracading the door – giving his own life – in an attempt to save the students in the room… to decrying the networks decision to air the videos the killer submitted to NBC. (I think it was NBC.) All sorts of emotions, all sorts of thoughts.

One thing I heard while listening to the latest God Journey podcast struck a chord with me, and perhaps it does with you, too.

I had read several comments on the news sites I was browsing that read something like this, “Hundreds of innocent Iraqis die every day and we don’t see news coverage like this!” There was some frustration over the “overreaction” by US media regarding this killing of “lesser” significance (number-wise), and the diminishing of the lives lost in Iraq. That angered me a bit, as I do understand the sentiment, but can we please drop our political agendas for just one moment???

But the God Journey guys were talking about it and they commented on how the rest of the world deals with tragedies like this very differently. Here in the US we are scrambling to find a “reason”, or a “motive”, or even someone (or some system, or someones) to blame for it. We can’t accept such a thing. Our lives are so in our “control” (or so it would appear) that clearly an event like this reveals an error, or a mistake, or some form of blame be placed somewhere. Certainly on the killer… but there has to be more. He can’t be solely responsible for his actions.

Maybe it’s gun control. If we would just tighten that up. Or maybe it’s his parents. If they would have loved him more. Maybe it’s that the University should have shut down the entire campus, because they surely must have known he was going to go on a killing spree. Surely. Maybe if the other students – who had noticed he was different – had stepped in earlier, instead of allowing political correctness to govern their actions. Maybe it could have been prevented if US immigration laws were more strict, not just allowing visas to anyone who wants them.

Maybe… maybe not.

See, bad stuff happens. People die. People do bad things. What happened last week was bad. It was ugly. It was horrible. Just like the stuff that happens in Iraq and Darfur and everywhere else around the world every day. The human condition is marred by sin. People can make bad choices that hurt other people. And really, there is no amount of laws or training or educating or any preventative methods that can curtail that.

We are not in control. We may think we are. We may think we can be. But, we are not.

So, best you can do (in my estimation) is live your life to the fullest. Live everyday enjoying where you are, and who you’re with. Love as you have been loved. You never know when you’ll breathe your last breath here. And if you know Jesus, you can trust him that it won’t be your last. You can’t control what other people do, but you definitely have a say in what you do. (Sin kinda messes that up on occasion, but at least we have some say) 🙂

Love God, and love people today. Don’t worry about what might come tomorrow, or what has happened yesterday. Any control we think we have is mostly an illusion. Trust the one who holds all things together, and follow him where he leads.

Maybe that’s the best damage control.