virginia tech

My prayers are with the VT community. I have known a number of VT alums over the years, and they are without exception remarkably gifted, grounded and generous people. Of course, there is the event---the shootings, coming surely from an irrational motive. There is next the media frenzy, tragedy communicated for corporate profit through emotional manipulation. There is the search for a narrative that hooks the culture: in this case, who is to blame? The head of security? The school president? And there are later the lingering questions: Why do some perish and others survive? And what could possibly have been the motive?

I find myself limiting my consumption of television coverage of the event to no more than a few minutes a day. I appreciate President Bush's presence in Blacksburg, and his comments, which I heard on radio. If you read this blog, you will know that I am not a fan of President Bush, but he really is at his best when he expresses compassion. Had he functioned in this way after Katrina, life would be very different in our country. I have convictions about the manufacture of the weapons that were used in this incident, but now is not the time for this debate (again, the scary thing here is that I agree with President Bush). That time will come later.

I have tried to be in touch with a friend who lives in Blacksburg, whose son will begin school there next year. I encourage readers who wish to do so to send a financial gift to the Wesley Foundation at Virginia Tech (just google "Va Tech Wesley Foundation"), I plan to do this. It is an amazing campus ministry, and one that has endured across the years as a center of Christian fellowship, mission and spirituality. The Wesley Foundation will be integral to the healing of the community in months to come. I will continue to pray for the families whose children have been murdered. And I also pray that Asian-Americans will not experience prejudice because of the actions of one person. I pray for this violent world of ours, and in the midst I search for the peace that surpasses human understanding, and I claim the truth of Easter: there is no suffering that cannot be overcome.