Once again evil appears in the form of a serial killer bent on the destruction of innocent people. It is never easy to hear about murders, but for them to be in Church, it is cruelest of all. We want to have a safe place, or think there is a safe place. But evil appears to be taking all our safe places away.
I am left with a helpless feeling, with no explanation and no sense to be made of it.
10 lives are destroyed.....the shooter being one of them. And then the trickle down effect of hundreds of people connected to these 10 whose lives will be forever altered. It all happens in a few short minutes. The time it takes to get a hamburger or watch a commercial, the amount of time you sit at a red light.....10 lives destroyed.
How does it happen? Evil makes people blind, they can no longer see right from wrong, under that circumstance this can happen. Where does evil come from? It usually comes in small doses from many sources. Rarely does anyone get up in the morning and say they want to kill someone. Evil is patient....it whispers, provides articles on hate with the internet providing an amazing avenue, perhaps the influence of friends or maybe organic madness.
I heard discussion on whether or not this was a hate crime. Murder is a hate crime and every victim should be treated accordingly. "Hate crime" seems like an oxymoron. A dear friend went to visit her mother and found her dying in the garage, stabbed by her boyfriend. How would that not be a hate crime?
I grew up in the South with every Wednesday night being a church night. Today, this Thursday morning when I heard of this horrific slaughter my thought was a remembrance of Wednesday night church. And then a spontaneous shudder went over my body.
I don't have enough prayers for the families and friends of these 9 innocent people. I believe over time they will heal because of the faith they have. My prayers are also with the family of the shooter who must live with this for the rest of their lives.
But we must not let evil win. There is a tremendous amount of good in this world, I just got a message on Facebook from friends who are serving a mission in Kenya. They are doing incredible good at a hospital filled with children suffering with leukemia to gunshot wounds to sickle cell to horrible burns. Cindy and Rod are there loving those children.
There is so much good in the world. I refuse to let evil win. Don't you let it either.
I believe those with true faith and conscience are always looking to the light and searching for the good. But, sadly, we are living in a world filled with hate that shows itself in a myriad of ways. It's hard to find the right balance sometimes but, never give up the faith. Good post!
ReplyDeleteb
It is hard to find the balance sometimes! that is why I tell my children when negative thoughts come to you....get rid of them. I know we become what we believe.
DeleteThere IS a lot of good in the world. There are days when this is indeed difficult to remember, but small acts of kindness can accumulate into big shifts in culture and humanity.
ReplyDeleteI have started to list it in my gratitude journal....I have become so self serving I stopped doing service for others. I will list it until it is second nature again
DeleteActs of kindness, acts of good--that's what it takes. To drown out the evil.
ReplyDeleteAnd you do that every day
DeleteI have to confess that I haven't been paying much attention to the news. It's summer and I just finished working for this school year, and not listening to the news is like taking a mini vacation. I did however hear a little about the Charleston event, but did not hear that the shooter was dead too..
ReplyDeleteI think I would like to take a huge vacation from the news
DeleteThis was absolutely a "hate" crime meant to target a specific group based on their race. The killer admitted he almost didn't go through with it because the people in the church were so nice to him. But racism won. Racism is evil and the only way it will not continue to win is if we take down the confederate flag and stop focusing on the color of a person's skin instead of what's beneath it.
ReplyDeleteThe most chilling part of this for me is he didn't go in guns blazing the way most of these guys operate. Instead he sat with them, for an hour....I agree this was a hate crime. But I think all crime comes from hate.
DeleteIt's hard to fathom this level of hatred. Yet it keeps coming up over and over again.
ReplyDeleteEstelle
I know evil has always existed, it just seems so much....worse now.
DeleteOne person at a time. We must show kindness. We must teach kindness. We can't let evil win. Evil is doing a good job of destroying lives in violent and unimaginable ways. One person at a time. We must show kindness. We must teach kindness. We must not let evil win.
ReplyDeletethat is the only thing I can concentrate on now. Can I serve someone today? One person at a time. I add it to my gratitude journal....who did I serve? It is easy to forget and concentrate on my interests only...I need the reminder
DeleteWhat eats me up is that it is just as easy to teach acceptance and compassion as it is to teach evil. Evil, in my opinion, does not live on its own -- it is passed down wrapped in fear and intolerance. Yes we have to overwhelm it with good and kindness and compassion but we have to understand that those are learned behaviors as well....
ReplyDeleteThere is a scripture about the sins of the father going to the children. I don't know anything about this mans family, but you are completely right about evil being passed down. I love your idea of overwhelming evil with good and kindness. You are right.
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