April 16

Read Romans 14

Monday, April 16, 2007.

Another day that will be seared into the memories of every student at Virginia Tech, their parents, the faculty, visitors, alumni – and the world. More than 24 hours have passed since the “massacre at Virginia Tech” – and we still are uncertain of the body count. Inexplicably to most of us, a young man kills two people in a dorm and then more than 30 in classrooms on the Virginia Tech campus.

It’s so horrible, so baffling – most of us are still in shock. But not the news media. Many of them are clear on their response to this tragedy – judge. Desperate to get word on my son’s safety and the safety of his fellow Hokies – I watched the television coverage of this unfolding nightmare with rapt attention. What did I hear? A lot of arm chair quarterbacking, criticism, and judging all authority figures currently working on the Tech campus.

Eventually I simply couldn’t take any more and had to hope that emails and cell phones would give me what I wanted – the sound of my son’s voice or word of his status. Hearing my child’s voice was a relief, but it could not ameliorate the rage I felt at the reporters’ interviews of other people’s children. They badgered them with questions – “Do you think you should have been told earlier about the first shooting? Aren’t you upset that classes weren’t cancelled? Why wasn’t your campus closed off?”

And then I went to scripture. “You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother?” (Romans 14:10)

Ouch. Reporters judged officials, I judged reporters. I was mad as only a scared mother can be – and those lame questioners made a nice, safe, anonymous target for my rage. I still believe that no one was served by this rush to judgment that we witnessed on all the networks covering this story. But that gave me absolutely no right to join in the fray.

According to Juanita Ryan, (you can hear her take on this – her audio class is on our web site), sometimes we become judgmental of ourselves and others when we’re suffering. Sometimes working up a good head of steam seems easier to deal with than our own howling pain. Thanks to Dr. Ryan’s wise words, I paused to prepare. I dug deep and found my compassionate self. I’ve decided to spend the rest of this week practicing the fine art of compassion – I’m going to let go of my judgments of others – since I’m the only person I have the power to change.

Thought for today: So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Romans 14:12 NIV

Thought for tomorrow: List your resentments. Code words for resentment may include: feeling injured, violated, left out, low sense of worth, angry, bitter, desirous of retaliation.
Example: I resent ____ because ______. This affects _____. This activates _____. This makes me feel _______.