Are We Responsible?

As many know, bombs rocked the finish line of the Boston Marathon yesterday afternoon, leaving 3 dead and over one hundred injured. A few months ago, a young man walked into an elementary school in Newtown, CT, killing 20 young children and 6 adults.

The news is filled with these kind of stories... there's a new shooting, or bombing, or other human-made tragedy every day. Some of these tragedies only affect one person or one family. Some affect hundreds.

I have one question....

Why do these tragedies not affect all of us? 

 We turn a blind eye to child abuse, spousal abuse, teenage prostitutes, homeless families, strangers just looking to belong, and the list goes on. We turn a blind eye until something horrific happens - someone bombs the finish line of a marathon, or opens fire on a Kindergarten class. And then we stay glued to the television and the photos, and ask "why did this happen?!"... "How could someone do this?"...

The answer to that is quite simple... this didn't happen because of our gun laws. It didn't happen because of godless people. It didn't happen for any reason other than the fact that we allowed it. We paved the way for it.

We Are Responsible!

After the Connecticut shooting, I asked a pastor why God allows these things to happen...where God was in all this. He wrote a sermon based on these questions, and answered them relatively well. But, for the point of this post... I want to touch on a part of his sermon that really touched me deeply. It hit home....

"When we look at the shooter, too often we ask the question how could he have done this? What possessed him to do such a thing? But I say that that is the wrong question. The right question is this: Why did we close our eyes to the needs of one of God’s children such that this behavior seems appropriate or necessary?" (Pastor Bey, 12/16/2012)