How could this happen? And how should I respond?

Reflections on the Virginia Tech shooting

I'm not exactly sure why, but the events of the past 36 hours, on the campus of Virginia Tech (four hours south of DC) have had a particular effect on me. I was emailing with a colleague yesterday who said that this event was "a good reminder to focus on what is important in life."

I have been reflecting on my response to tragedies like this and I must admit, I usually try and forget as quickly as possible. You may remember, I blogged about a campus shooting that happened at the University of Arizona in 2002 (while Melanie and I were still in grad school). I shared this memory:

Like the return to 'normal' life so quickly after 9-11, it's easy to distance ourselves from suffering. Literally within hours (perhaps less), people acted as if nothing had ever happened.The response of a fellow student will never leave my memory: "Well, you don't want to think about it too much - you'd spend your whole life contemplating your own mortality".
While I was and am not saying that "contemplating your own mortality" should be the focus of our lives, the fragility of life MUST convict us of the truly important things in life and allow the frivolous to take their rightful place in the background.

I feel the strong sense that I need to hold on to these feelings of disillusionment, anger, sadness. We all do. If we are to glorify God, if we are to bring hope to our colleagues, friends and family who don't know Jesus, we must remember. Pray, journal, blog, whatever it takes - we must remember.

Just yesterday morning, Mel and I read together the words of Romans 12:15 "mourn with those who mourn". As people who belong to the "God of all comfort" (2 Corinthians 1), we must not run from this sadness but instead offer hope to those who are grieved (with us) by these terrible events.