Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The tragedies.

A tragedy comes, such as the V-Tech shootings. People scream and cry and curse God and ask why He could allow such a thing to happen. They raise all kinds of questions: how could the school allow this to happen, do we need to change our gun laws, why did no one notice something wrong with the guy? They show support: they buy hats and shirts and ribbons, they make posters and paint their cars. And then we forget. We let the status quo take over again. Everything goes back to normal.

The war in Iraq came along. People said "No! We shouldn't be there, bring them home!" People said "That's right, send in the troops and show those people what's what!" Then we forgot. The troops are still over there giving their lives every day, and we forget about them. People go on with their lives as if nothing matters except what's in their own little bubble.

What kind of world do we live in where people can simply forget about such atrocities? Sure we talk about it for a couple weeks, shake our fists and say "Someone should do something about that." Then we forget, let the status quo take over again, and everything goes back to normal.

We live in a world that is slowly becoming desensitized to everything that goes on around us. Soldiers dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, massacres in Darfur, murders on our own streets, and no one seems to care. Gas prices make the news more often than rape and murder. Sports dominate the American mind so much that we forget about our troops. We work to sate our own insatiable lusts for money while families starve right down the street.

What kind of world have we made for ourselves?

What kind of world are we making for our children?