Listening to the Smith's "How Soon is Now" and reading MK's excellent post "Numb," I thought I'd post a reaction or reflection of the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech.

I don't watch the news on T.V. very much, or read the newspaper, and even though I once listened to NPR almost religiously, I've slipped from that habit as well. The morning of 911 I was reupholstering my dining room chairs and thought, "It's been a while since I've heard what's going on in the world." So I turned on the radio and immediately heard about what had happened only minutes before in NYC. I had the same thought this past Monday afternoon and proceeded to turn on the news and heard about the shootings. The next day I heard about bombings in Iraq where hundreds were killed. I thought of all the hype over here about a senseless shooting rampage, and of those places where bombings are a part of daily survival and reported on almost casually now. I was thinking of the children who have been orphaned because their parents were killed because of "civil unrest"...we don't hear about them. It seems to me that Americans think we are immune to violence since we have so many laws protecting us. We seem more enraged when something horrible happens on our turf, because that kind of thing isn't supposed to happen here.

I don't like to watch or listen or read the news often because it depresses me. Not that I want to stick my head in the sand and pretend that all is well in the world. I know quite certainly that it is not. I just don't have any idea what I can do to make a difference. I pray for the victims' families and the orphans that they may experience the hope and grace of Jesus' sacrifice.