I study and teach at Florida
State University and the shooting that occurred on Thursday morning has caused
quite a reaction in my community.
Public tragedies are
pictures of both the best and worst of human nature. At once, we have both
terrifying acts of violence placed directly beside breathtaking displays of unity
as communities band together for support. This unity is often awe-inspiring and
hopeful as if we are standing up to a tyrant whose name is fear or sadness
proclaiming we won’t be subjugated or defeated.
It is in these moments
that the importance of community cannot properly be captured in words.
Yet, perhaps equally a
part of human nature, it is in these times of tragedy that we seek explanation.
We want reasons and answers to our questions. We want to know patterns so we
can make sense of what seems absolutely random. And it is here that we have the
potential to slip into an old pattern of explanation that might cause more
damage than good.
We need to moderate our
language about this shooting. And this is going to sound strange, but we need
to release God from the responsibility for things he had nothing to do with. We
need to accept our own agency and our own responsibility for the things that
happen in this world, even if that means sometimes we are subject to seemingly random
acts of violence or luck.
There is a story and
pictures going around of a student who was targeted by the shooter but had the
bullet stopped by the books he had just gotten at the library. Thank God he is
alive and uninjured. But he said, “The truth is I was almost killed tonight and
God intervened.”
This is a devastating
claim to make. God stopped his bullet but not the others that injured three students
and killed the shooter. Why do we think that? There are many problems here.
And this line of thinking
goes further. God becomes responsible for all tragedies. Either she did or did
not stop people from dying. God saves some and not others.
We are giving God responsibility
for things he is not responsible. We, human beings, make decisions. We do
things, either because of decisions or circumstances or whatever. But we do
them. Not God.
Yet God is still
present. God is present in all things and THIS is exactly where we should be
finding her!
God was present in that
library long before the shooter arrived. He was present in the doors that were
being opened in the minds of those students as they discovered knowledge. God
was present in the hard work and determination of kids burning midnight oil to
finish their work. God was present in the laughter and joy that was broken by
the gunfire. God was present as students worked together to ensure the safety
of one another. God was present in the just application of force to keep the
shooter from hurting anyone else. God is present in the tragedy of the loss of
human life, watching over her creation as a loving Father does.
And God is most
certainly present in the comfort and strength we give one another. God is here.
Always. Forever.
But God is not, and was
not, a puppet master, saving some and not others, pulling strings on some
divine whim that we cannot understand or fathom. God resides not only in
experiences on the edge of our lives, guiding a shooters hand towards some and
not others. God resides at the center of our lives – in our happiness, our
comfort, our joy, our pursuit of knowledge, our community.
Let us thank God we are
alive and that this tragedy was not as bad as it could have been. Let us remind
each other that our lives are temporary and we should take solace in our
community. Let us pray God will comfort those most impacted by this tragedy.
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