I can’t help but follow the news these past few days regarding the NIU shootings. The campus is a mere half hour from my house and we have friends who attended there. Although we personally don’t know anyone hurt in the shootings, it has touched this community. At church today we shared our thoughts and reactions to the event – wondering about the shooter’s family and asking what causes these sorts of horrific tragedies to occur.
That question of seeking to know why is a common response. This morning in the Chicago Tribune one perspective piece listed blog comments that attempted to give reasons why this happened. The comments of course cited the lack of gun control as well as the need for the right to carry concealed weapons. But the answers didn’t end there. Commenters blamed everything from bad parenting, to video games, to abortion, to homosexuality, to television for this incident. These voices seemed to think that if their particular pet peeve didn’t exist this shooting would never have occurred. Now I am all for gun control and am not particularly fond of violent video games, but I have to wonder at how quick people are to pass the blame and avoid any true involvement. I’m no fan of “black swan” philosophy either I might add. I think there is a place for trying to make sense of the world we live in and understanding why things happen, but I think such examinations should result in one choosing to take responsibility to help make things better.
In church this morning we also focused on the story in Acts 3 when Peter and John heal a lame man at the temple gate. They didn’t just give a beggar a few coins, or walk by and ignore him, they looked directly at him and healed the main cause of his problems. They didn’t just treat symptoms, or complain about the systems of injustices in this world, they took responsibility for doing something to help out. So we can bitch and play the blame game when tragedies occur, and perhaps that helps in the grieving process, or maybe we can address underlying issues and work for change. We might even be talking about the same issues, but I prefer the idea of seeking to be constructive during these times.