Another Tragedy

Once again we have been shocked and saddened by a mass killing. I have wrestled with the impact of it all and have few answers. Such an event is mind-numbingly confusing. As it goes with these tragedies, pundits from all sides are quick to place blame — the violent nature of the movie and movies in general, easy accessibility to guns, a culture out of control in its violence. The pro-gun lobby have said that if only a few of the cinema-goers had legal concealed firearms, the gunman could have been killed and lives saved. Of the half US households that keep guns, by far the great majority do not commit murders with them. The anti-gun lobby retort that it is because guns are so easy to get in the USA that such tragedies occur. There is a clear correlation between the number of guns in a society and deaths by guns. The arguments will continue. Yet, still the families of those killed and hurt grieve, and people worry for their safety in crowds and public spaces. Police officers in NYC stationed at all cinemas showing the Batman movie is rather like locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.
Perspective is needed, and in the immediate aftermath of such tragedy perspective is difficult to find. Why a very small percentage of humanity choose to do such things is an important question. Of the seven billion of us on the planet, very few are depraved enough to carry out a mass killing, and I suppose even fewer one that includes children and babies. There is something deeply flawed about the human beings who carry out such heinous acts —something missing perhaps, some ability or faculty that most have but the killer does not. Sociologists, psychologists, political scientists may have insight. Brain science might help us in time. (How tragic that the murderer was studying neuroscience!)
Philosophers have spoken of concentrated and diffuse harms. Concentrated harms affect us more deeply. Every day of the year, on average, 25-30 people are killed by guns in the USA. But, we are not daily traumatized, nor do we think much about it. Yet when a killer takes the lives of a dozen people in one event it feels very different. With mass media coverage the event is magnified. We feel the death of twelve at one time more than we feel the death of 8,000 spread over a year.
In the gospel reading today it says, "Jesus had compassion for the crowd, because they were like sheep without a shepherd." I have often felt that with events such as this week's tragedy people in general, "the crowd," are like sheep without a shepherd. Abroad is a feeling of lostness, vulnerability, and unease. The gospel offers no easy answers, no "this is the reason," or "this is how to fix it." The gospel offers simple compassion. An empathic standing with, drawing alongside, offering comfort for loss — a being with, God with us. I recall after September 11 2001, in the rawness and pain of it all, my only response to friends and students most closely effected by the event was a compassionate drawing alongside, compassionate listening, compassionate praying.
Perhaps, this week too that is our best response — a release of compassion through our thoughts, prayers and meditation.
+Ab. Andy