Monday, December 17, 2012

I hope...

"Hope can drive a man insane." Otis Redding, The Shawshank Redemption

 In the midst of tragedy I have little to add that so many haven't said over the past few days. I have anger. I have grief. Sadness.

I wonder about our treatment of those with mental health issues. I wonder about environments and signs and behaviors. I ask myself questions about the role guns play in our society. I wonder if demonic forces were involved.

I hope it will go away. Not because I trust in mankind to start behaving better. People--all people--are capable of the greatest of good and lowest of evil.

“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

But there is hope in God. There is hope that the One who was born into the suffering of the world, the One whose foretold coming so brought paranoia into Herod that many innocents also suffered then, that One will one day destroy evil and make all things good. He can, and he will. Maranatha.

Until then, I will pray that evil does not win the day. I will pray for those whose loss is more than I can imagine. I pray for the divine peace that is beyond all understanding to guard their (and our) hearts and minds.

And I hope.

1 comment:

Vicki Adkison said...

A friend at church yesterday who is a former teacher and principal and now works for the state school board said our schools,here anyway, are very bad at not offering any kind of mental health help to kids.She said there's nothing out there that schools do on a regular basis and wishes they would offer help of some kind on a regular basis.She says so much could be avoided. That's her feeling anyway.