Lauren McCain was a Virginia Tech student. She died on Monday, the 16th of April. The title is a snippet of what her father has said about her killer. Yes, it is only three days after his daughter’s death and he may well still be, and likely is, in the initial stages of his response to his daughter’s loss. He may well change his message, or at least his emotions surrounding it, in the coming days and weeks.
Maybe when his daughter doesn’t come home for the summer and his house seems so empty, so quiet, so desolate, he will come to more fully grasp the violence that has been done to him and his world. And he will be entitled to changing his view.
No one would blame him for changing his views, for being angry and demanding some sort of vengeance from someone. Anyone. While we deduce that he and his family have some pretty strong Christian convictions, he remains human. Feeble, imperfect, and subject to emotional and psychological conflicts and swings as are the rest of us. And so no one would blame him.
It is interesting that in more rural areas, those areas that are normally considered backward, or not quite as advanced as the rest of us, we have seen over the last few months, remarkable abilities to forgive, to let go of anger, to accept murderers as fellow humans who are hurting.
Lauren McCain’s father is another example of Christian faith, working its way out among the tragedies and confusion of life, and coming through clearly and humanely. He gives the rest of us tangible examples that the life we have been called to live, can in fact be lived even in the face of unexplainable madness.
I hope he doesn’t change his mind.
Maybe when his daughter doesn’t come home for the summer and his house seems so empty, so quiet, so desolate, he will come to more fully grasp the violence that has been done to him and his world. And he will be entitled to changing his view.
No one would blame him for changing his views, for being angry and demanding some sort of vengeance from someone. Anyone. While we deduce that he and his family have some pretty strong Christian convictions, he remains human. Feeble, imperfect, and subject to emotional and psychological conflicts and swings as are the rest of us. And so no one would blame him.
It is interesting that in more rural areas, those areas that are normally considered backward, or not quite as advanced as the rest of us, we have seen over the last few months, remarkable abilities to forgive, to let go of anger, to accept murderers as fellow humans who are hurting.
Lauren McCain’s father is another example of Christian faith, working its way out among the tragedies and confusion of life, and coming through clearly and humanely. He gives the rest of us tangible examples that the life we have been called to live, can in fact be lived even in the face of unexplainable madness.
I hope he doesn’t change his mind.
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