A Breath...
"Each person's life is but a breath." Psalms
This morning two of my dearest, most beloved friends from college wrote me emails which included stories about friends and acquaintances of theirs dying. One in a car accident. Two brutally murdered (one in Perugia, the other in the US). I happened to read the emails back-to-back, and couldn't restrain my curiousity about the murders, so I did some research online, and both cases were absolutely horrifying. Ripped right out of the goriest movies you can imagine, (which made me think, yet again, that these horror flicks and even shows like SUV, while undoubtedly entertaining, inspire some sick people in really dreadful ways).
The girl in Perugia seemed to be murdered almost accidentally. A couple of doped up college kids trying to recreate some lame scene from an artsy horror film (you know the kind, with the overt attempts at sexiness/sexuality, the senseless murder for no reason other than the thrill of the kill) and their slashing of her throat in an attempt to subdue her- what was meant to be a few knicks- went too far, cut too deep, and two hours later she was dead. Bled to death. There wasn't even a motive. They apparently didn't even mean to kill her. They were just too stoned and too stupid to think straight, and too influenced by cheap, trashy hollywood.
The girl in Georgia was worse. Much, much worse. She went out for a hike on a well-populated trail, with her dog, took all the right precautions, was stalked by some disturbed guy who kidnapped her, threw her in the back of his van and kept her there for three days, then killed her with a hit to the head by a blunt object, and decapitated her. How...how can one human being ever be so cruel and malevolent towards another. He's not a human being anymore. But it's not really fair to call him an animal either, because an animal would never do that to another animal. He is a monster. A lowly, base, vile monster.
It really makes my skin crawl and blood boil to think that there are people out there who are like this...who make the world such a terrifying place to live in, sometimes. Where are you ever really safe?
I know that a lot of people take these accidents, or these tragedies, as signs that God doesn't exist because a just God would never let bad things happen to good people. And when stuff like this happens it is hard to keep the faith. Imagine being the parent or the spouse of one of these people. The child? I dont really have answers. I belive in free will. I believe some things are fated. I believe in accidents. And I believe in Divine intervention. But how these all interact is still a mystery to me. Will likely always be a mystery. My only comfort is that while all of these forces exist in this plane of existence, I also believe in spiritual planes. Where we go when we die. And I trust that in that world, there are no accidents. Accidents are a phenomenon of this life. Therefore, any wrong that has been committed here, I trust will be righted there. So those poor girls that were brutally and senselessly murdered- I trust that God is showing them such kindness, such benevolence in their new homes. That really this seeming injustice is a mercy to them, though undoubtedly a painful test to all those who are left behind. I also trust that when those responsible for their deaths pass away, God will deal with them with His justice. The kind of justice I hope and pray to never be on the receiving end of.
This morning two of my dearest, most beloved friends from college wrote me emails which included stories about friends and acquaintances of theirs dying. One in a car accident. Two brutally murdered (one in Perugia, the other in the US). I happened to read the emails back-to-back, and couldn't restrain my curiousity about the murders, so I did some research online, and both cases were absolutely horrifying. Ripped right out of the goriest movies you can imagine, (which made me think, yet again, that these horror flicks and even shows like SUV, while undoubtedly entertaining, inspire some sick people in really dreadful ways).
The girl in Perugia seemed to be murdered almost accidentally. A couple of doped up college kids trying to recreate some lame scene from an artsy horror film (you know the kind, with the overt attempts at sexiness/sexuality, the senseless murder for no reason other than the thrill of the kill) and their slashing of her throat in an attempt to subdue her- what was meant to be a few knicks- went too far, cut too deep, and two hours later she was dead. Bled to death. There wasn't even a motive. They apparently didn't even mean to kill her. They were just too stoned and too stupid to think straight, and too influenced by cheap, trashy hollywood.
The girl in Georgia was worse. Much, much worse. She went out for a hike on a well-populated trail, with her dog, took all the right precautions, was stalked by some disturbed guy who kidnapped her, threw her in the back of his van and kept her there for three days, then killed her with a hit to the head by a blunt object, and decapitated her. How...how can one human being ever be so cruel and malevolent towards another. He's not a human being anymore. But it's not really fair to call him an animal either, because an animal would never do that to another animal. He is a monster. A lowly, base, vile monster.
It really makes my skin crawl and blood boil to think that there are people out there who are like this...who make the world such a terrifying place to live in, sometimes. Where are you ever really safe?
I know that a lot of people take these accidents, or these tragedies, as signs that God doesn't exist because a just God would never let bad things happen to good people. And when stuff like this happens it is hard to keep the faith. Imagine being the parent or the spouse of one of these people. The child? I dont really have answers. I belive in free will. I believe some things are fated. I believe in accidents. And I believe in Divine intervention. But how these all interact is still a mystery to me. Will likely always be a mystery. My only comfort is that while all of these forces exist in this plane of existence, I also believe in spiritual planes. Where we go when we die. And I trust that in that world, there are no accidents. Accidents are a phenomenon of this life. Therefore, any wrong that has been committed here, I trust will be righted there. So those poor girls that were brutally and senselessly murdered- I trust that God is showing them such kindness, such benevolence in their new homes. That really this seeming injustice is a mercy to them, though undoubtedly a painful test to all those who are left behind. I also trust that when those responsible for their deaths pass away, God will deal with them with His justice. The kind of justice I hope and pray to never be on the receiving end of.
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