Reading the News

Reading the news always upsets me, mostly because it reminds me that there are people who want to hurt other people. I try my best to remind myself that it’s the natural result of how horrible we can be, and that the potential for violence and hatred resides in each person. I remind myself that people who murder and rape and abuse other people are deeply disturbed themselves. I cannot imagine the kind of pain that turns people into monsters. And at the same time it makes me sick, and it makes me glad that there is a God who has in His heart a greater concern for the littlest, the weakest, the loneliest than I could ever have. It makes me glad that although a child molester does not receive the consequences I think he deserves now, he will be judged for it. I cling to the justice of God at times like this. It doesn’t make it any easier, though. A while back, I read a story of a fifteen year old girl who was raped and murdered by a man who had, a couple of years before, raped a 14 year old girl. He was released from prison early. And then he killed someone. How does this happen? I cannot rail against the justice system, because I know very little about it. I have no solutions. I only have the anger and grief that overwhelms me when I read about these things. Today I read about a school shooting in Brazil. I don’t understand what can make someone want to kill a child. How can someone look into the face of a child, see that child’s fear, and pull the trigger? I do not understand. I sat in my dorm room, crying as I read, because I cannot understand.