What is going on here? Why would a person kill others? What is preventing us from expressing our anger respectfully? What gives anyone the right to take another's life? What makes us think that we are better, more powerful, more righteous than others? What gives us the right to destroy hundreds of other lives, including the bereaved, just because we want to? What are we raising our children to believe? That they can throw a major temper tantrum because they don't get their way? When will we learn respect for life? When will we learn how to have dialogue with others when we're upset instead of shooting them in the face? When will we learn to graciously step aside when someone one else gets in the way? When will we learn that we are all connected and that what we do to one person, we also do to ourselves?
I don't have any answers, but I'm looking in certain directions:
1. Respect for life begins with our leaders. They set the example for us.
2. War, killing, profiteering, road rage, violence all lead to more violence.
3. Killing is easy; dialogue is only for those who want to make a better world for our children.
Nothing will replace the lives of those who died today. Only our efforts toward peace and nonviolent dialogue will help to steer our society in a new direction.
