A History of Violence

Like the rest of the nation, I was saddened and shocked by shootings at Virginia Tech and joined the all college students and other Americans in prayer for the victims, their families, as well as the gunman. But as I continued to think and reflect on the events that have come to pass, I thought about how our change in worldview may contribute to these new manifestations of disturbing and publicized violence.

Shocking acts of violence have always been a part of history, but it seems we may be witnessing a new evolution in its manifestations. The Baby Boomer generartion (considered to be the last "modern" generation) also witnessed growing up terrible publicized acts of violence, but they seemed to witness high profile political assassinations as well as politically charged events (the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy, as well violence at civil rights rallies and Kent State University). All of the these events were terrible and shocking to the country and a connecting similarity between these acts is that they were all carried out because of what somebody believed and that they disagreed with something that the other person believed, in other words, they became violent because of something they valued and what they wanted to protect.

The postmodern generation has also witnessed violent acts growing up, but it appears that they have been of a different genre. Rather than seeing politically charged situations, we have witnessed violent acts of alienated individuals (John Hinckley Jr., the Columbine shootings, subsequent school shootings, and now recently Cho Seung-Hui). Rather than being motivated by political or ideological differences, it appears that violence has come from individuals frustrated by not being able to fit in and feel valued. Rather than violence being based on individual identity, it is being based on desiring to be part of a group identity and not finding it.

As we move into a postmodern world and ideology, we need to realize that publicized violent acts are going to change as well. I think that we are going to find that it is going to be more evident that people value being in a group rather than defending an ideology or political view. As a result, we may see a growing trend in violent acts from troubled, alienated people rather than political assassins. With this in mind, this makes the situation even more dire for Christians to bring people into a loving and healthy community, bringing them closer to the grace and healing that only Christ can give.

Once again, my prayers continue to be with the students of Virginia Tech and I pray that God will bring healing to the campus, the students, and the families.