Commentary--Connecticut School Shooting 12/14/12

I heard the news about the school shooting when I got to work today.  In a way, I was glad both my patients  cancelled and I had some time to let this horrible tragedy sink in for a bit.  It is so hard to understand the murder of innocent people, whether they be children, teens or adults.  I guess you might say that you could understand the murder of an enemy, an intruder, or someone who has done harm to you or your loved ones; to some degree we are all capable of taking someone's life to save our own or the lives of our loved ones.

What drives an individual to plan and perpetrate this type of heinous offense against humankind?  The question on everyone's mind is "Why?"  The shooter is dead and we will never know.  Even if there were an answer, would we be able to understand it?  Doubtful.  Who understands the workings of a person's mind but the mind of God?  And, who can know the mind of God...? (1 Corinthians 2:16; Romans 11:34)

This in no way implies that the darkness of this day was the will of God because it clearly was not.  Humankind is both blessed and cursed with free will.  We choose to do what we do; we have the final choice.    The way I understand things, a person who is thinking clearly and rationally, would not take out his or her anger on those who are innocent.  A rational human being would be more likely to see the enormity of this type of behavior and its consequences.  An irrational human being might be thinking that it doesn't matter who pays for the perceived offense, just as long as someone pays.  They might also believe they will get away with the crimes or, if they are killed or kill themselves, they will be famous and therefore important.   What good is it to be famous if you murder 20 children (at last count) and 6 adults, then suffer your own violent death?   I remember Columbine, but don't ask me who the shooters were because I don't remember their names.

How much fame is that?

January 31, 2012

We cannot tell the precise moment when
friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel
drop by drop, there is at last a drop which
makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses
there is at last one which makes the heart run over
                                 -Samuel Johnson

January 30, 2012

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can
comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we
ourselves have received from God.
                            2 Corinthians 1:3-4

January 29, 2012

Sweet is the memory of distant friends!
Like the mellow rays of the departing sun,
It falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart.
                                  -Washington Irving

January 28, 2012

Thank you, God in heaven, for friends.
When morning wakes, when daytime ends,
I have the consciousness of loving
hands that touch my own,
of tender glance and gentle tone.
                             -Margaret Sangster

January 27, 2012

There is something very powerful
about...someone believing in you,
someone giving you another chance.
                                -Sheila Walsh

January 26, 2012

Now to Him who is able to do
immeasurably more than all we ask or
imagine, according to His power that
is at work within us, to Him be glory in the
church and in Christ Jesus throughout all
generations, for ever and ever!
                       -Ephesians 3:20-21

January 25, 2012

Attention to detail is the secret
of success in every sphere of life,
and little kindnesses, little acts of
considerateness, little appreciations,
little confidences...they are all that are
needed to keep the friendship sweet.
                                 -Hugh Black

January 24, 2012

Friendship is not diminished by distance or time...
by suffering or silence.
It is in these things that it roots most deeply.
It is from these things that it flowers.
                                     Author Unknown

January 23, 2012

A friend is one to whom one may pour

out all the contents of one's heart,

chaff and grain together,

knowing that the gentlest of hands

will take and sift it,

keep what is worth keeping,

and with a breath of kindness,

blow the rest away.

     -Dinah Maria Mullock Craik

January 22, 2012

I no longer call you servants,
because a servant does not know his master's business.
Instead, I have called you friends,
for everything that I learned from My Father
I have made known to you.
                                       -John 15:15

January 21, 2012

Our business is to love what God would have us do.
He wills our vocation as it is: let us love that and not
trifle away our time in hankering after other people's vocation.
                                                        -Francis De Sales

January 20, 2012

Indeed, we do not really live unless we
have friends surrounding us like a firm
wall against the winds of the world.
                      -Charles Hanson Towne

January 19, 2012

A friend is one who incessantly pays
us the compliment of expecting
from us all the virtues, and who
can appreciate them in us.
                -Henry David Thoreau

January 18, 2012

Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope;
Because of the Lord's great love
we are not consumed,
for His compassions never fail.
             Lamentations 3:21-23

January 17, 2012

Friendship is unnecessary,
like philosophy, like art.
It has no survival value;
rather it is one of those things
that give value to survival.
                 -C. S. Lewis

January 16, 2012

I especially value the friends
who love me as God loves me--
through no merit of my own!
                          -Sharon M. Mason

January 15, 2012

His thoughts were slow,
His words were few,
and never formed to glisten,
But he was a joy to all his friends--
You should have heard him listen.
                           -Wayne Mackey

January 14, 2012

A word aptly spoken
is like apples of gold
in settings of silver.
              Proverbs 25:11

January 13, 2012

Many women...have buoyed me up

in times of weariness and stress.

Each friend was important....

Their words have seasoned my life.

Influence, just like salt shaken out,

is hard to see, but its flavor is hard to miss.

                                           -Pam Farrel