When hatred paired with insanity appears to have had a victory, like most people, I feel deep dismay and grief. The shooting Saturday in Arizona that resulted in six deaths and appears to have political motivation fits this description for me. And, in the next days and weeks, I feel confident that the news media will not stop covering a plethora of information on the shooter and making a variety of speculations about his motivation for this terrible and sad act.
Unless he speaks for himself (and even then) I don't think we can really know "why" something like this happens. What I mean is, there are not usually one or two reasons, because reasons would be logical and this is an illogical act. I mean that a myriad of circumstances accumulate over usually a long period of time that result in such a tragedy.
Yet, our human instinct is to make sense and meaning. The one aspect of this incident that appears to be resonating with the media and the public is the vitriol of political coverage and the way this might stir up violence.
My worry about the tone of public discourse is certainly a motivation for me to have started writing Thirteen Ways - to offer choices (at least as I see them and about topics that are important to me) to "us vs. them" thinking. To make it more okay to be comfortable with the answer, "I don't know."
I jotted down three points in my journal yesterday as a response to the aspect of this tragedy in Arizona which may have its roots in the risks of free speech: 1) language is vitally important and those who control public language have a huge responsibility; 2) while it feels great in the moment to be righteously indignant or even right, in the long run, little movement is made toward a solution to a given problem and this can be damaging for all; 3) There will always be differences of opinion - passionate ones - between people, but as Jon Stewart, says, "I think we always have to remember that people can be opponents, but not enemies. And there are enemies in the world. We just need the news media to help us delineate. And I think that's where the failing is, that the culture of corruption in the media doesn't allow us to delineate between enemies and opponents."
In examining these terribly sad and senseless moments of life, the religious/spiritual part of me is always left still lamenting, "why." I read an excellent book in the past couple of years, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, by Harold Kushner. To paraphrase - he says that we will never know, but that the only appropriate prayer is one for strength to face what it is that has happened - to survive and go on.
I'll close with thoughts and prayers for strength - for the families and friends of the people who were killed or injured in Arizona, for the politicians and media to have the strength to find a different way to speak to us and for us, for us to consider our words and find the intent and strength to use more gentle words with one another. Or even to consider when it is appropriate to choose silence, as President Obama is doing; leading the nation in a moment of silence this morning.
Thanks for this, Katy.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how we personalize small numbers of tragedy, and depersonalize the larger ones, farther away, such as the genocides in Darfur. It makes one think.
As the Buddhists say, "Life is pain." I have rejected that idea for a long time, insisting upon being the eternal optimist, insisting on focusing on only the good parts. What I think the Buddhists meant though, is exactly what you said: there is not always reason and sense in this life. The higher order is elsewhere, and we are given this box of pain to sort out in our limited timespans and maybe, hopefully, improve.
Look back over the terrible things across history: the Crusades, the Holocaust, and so much more. It is undeniable that there are still terrible things. I think our work in this life is to keep it out of our tiny corners of the world, and to teach love and spread it. To understand that every life is important, and we are all connected. To understand that when psycho killers act out, they are playing a role in expressing a corner of mass consciousness that we don't want to look at. Scary stuff. Still, I believe that we can be brave enough to face it, to feel the shame of it, and to heal it. Even to forgive the psychos--the hardest work of all--because however wrong and misguided they are, they are acting from some place they think is right. It's a lot to take in.