As one commenter observes, my friend Ken "always knows the right words to say." Here are some of
Ken's thoughts from his blog,
Bear Witness to the Love of God in this World:
Of course, there is the event---the shootings, coming surely from an irrational motive. There is next the media frenzy, tragedy communicated for corporate profit through emotional manipulation. There is the search for a narrative that hooks the culture: in this case, who is to blame? The head of security? The school president? And there are later the lingering questions: Why do some perish and others survive? And what could possibly have been the motive? I find myself limiting my consumption of television coverage of the event to no more than a few minutes a day. I appreciate President Bush's presence in Blacksburg, and his comments, which I heard on radio. If you read this blog, you will know that I am not a fan of President Bush, but he really is at his best when he expresses compassion. Had he functioned in this way after Katrina, life would be very different in our country. I have convictions about the manufacture of the weapons that were used in this incident, but now is not the time for this debate (again, the scary thing here is that I agree with President Bush). That time will come later.There's no doubt that this was a terribly painful tragedy, especially for the families, students, and faculty at Virginia Tech. There is something, however, bothersome about all the media coverage, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Ken hints at this. I think it has something to do with the assumption that our lives are so boring that we need a tragic story like this to stir our emotions. That last sentence makes no sense, I know, but think about it, and maybe you can find a better way for me to express that thought.
I have not watched much
tv coverage of the event, but whenever I do, I keep thinking, "yes, but they go through something like this every day in Iraq," but I know
now's not the time to make that argument either.
Now's the time to mourn, to remember, to offer any encouragement we can to the members of the Va. Tech community.
Read the complete post at http://theivybush.blogspot.com/2007/04/va-tech.html