Blackburg

I find myself sitting in my little house that has become a refuge of sorts for me. It is indeed a little house that sits behind the larger “main” house. Someone built it a long time ago as a jam band garage of sorts. Heidi has since turned into a home office by day and I have turned it into a study room by night. The night is comfortable enough for my door to be open this evening. Unlike last night when it was chilly. Lyndsey stopped by to see if I would go and study with her. She scaled our 8 ft privacy fence. I left her hanging up there for a bit until I could figure out what she could step on to get down. She is young enough to be one of my youth kids from a good long time ago. Those guys are all out of college now and working on their lives. Some are married. One is an ad exec in New York. Another, the ad execs best friend, is married and expecting her first child. I still think of them.

I particularly think of them today. There was a terrible shooting at Virginia Tech yesterday. I know Blacksburg. It is an hour and a half from where I went to school. Tech is nestled in the mountains and has a beautiful rambling campus. It used to be a military school I think. The original buildings are stone. White stone now streaked with blood.

I talked with my friend Sam today. He is as conservative as I am liberal. We don’t agree on much except we both know that Jesus loves US. We discussed the shooting. He mentioned that the young man who killed these students and himself was from “CO-rea”. I mention this not only because of his East Tennessee accent, but because of his sometimes irritatingly hostile statements about those who are not from “around these parts”. He did mention that the young man was a legal resident from Korea. I applauded him for that. The immigrant card was off the table. Then Sam went on to talk about how he bought a gun in Roanoke several days before the shooting. I, of all people, said, “well you can do that”. He agreed. But couldn’t say much more about the purchase. Other than it was a gun intended to kill people. And not to hunt and not to have on the mantle.

I think about those kids up there. The RA who went to help when he heard a commotion. I did that once. It was friend who had crawled down the hall suffering excruciating pain from kidney stones. I sat with her head in my lap until the ambulance came. She was ok. This fella was not. I think about the 19 and 20 year olds who were from small towns in Virginia. Some were just starting their college careers. They could be youth group kids. They ARE someone’s children. And they got up one day to go to class and they suffered horribly.

The Tech President was being questioned today by Matt Lauer. (why not Meredith?). He discussed what they thought they knew yesterday. That by letting kids go to class it would be a way to protect them. He too was doing his job yesterday. I can’t imagine the guilt and second guessing he must be going through. As a former college staffer, I understand the responsibility he feels. Parents entrust their precious children to folks they don’t know in order for them to be educated. And now what?

Blame will be placed in all places. Sam mentioned lawsuits. Sure those will happen. But for what good? They are hiring more Campus Police at UTK. Great! Why did it take this? My guess is once the news dies down and state budgets get cut, those jobs will not be available.

And finally, what about the young man who was very troubled and angry it appears. He was supposedly a loner. A man with a dark sense of self. He too was someone’s child. His parents, much like the Columbine shooters parents, hurt. Who is to say their dreams aren’t shattered as well?

I don’t understand it. I don’t get it. I don’t get how we can live in a place that can find it so easy to hate the “other” when the other is loved by someone. And when we are all loved by GOD, for God’s sake. Sam would say this young man was not loved by God. He would say he will pay for his sins. I think perhaps this young man may be at peace. The demons quieted. Maybe not. I tend to look at things through rose colored glasses sometimes. But I can’t conceive of a God that doesn’t hurt with us. That doesn’t grieve with us while still trying to show us how to love.

Even in the awfulest of times.