As a Unitarian Universalist, I've been thinking about and praying for my UU brothers and sisters in Knoxville, Tennessee, where a man opened fire in a UU church Sunday morning, during a children's performance. Two people were killed and six were injured by gunfire, but no children were hurt - physically, at least. The 58-year-old man arrested in the attack said he was prompted to act by my church's liberal teachings. (Story here.)
Plenty of writers have weighed in, trying to make sense of this senseless act. This is an eyewitness account from a member of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. And this is a reflection written by one of my fellow Boise UUs, the father of a young child. He notes how, in our local Sunday service this week, we were treated to a trip through the Grand Canyon - and how surreal it seems to realize now what was going on in Knoxville just hours before, in another UU sanctuary. David writes:
I'm juggling this message of hope and beauty against the horrific reality of what took place that same day in Tennessee. It's too much to fathom. I do believe, however, that trying times call for an outpouring of love. Not hate. We as a people must rise above mindless acts by misguided individuals. Harboring hate in your heart only allows it to fester and poison your entire being.
I believe we must come together in community and redouble our efforts to realize a world that focuses on love, not hate. Peace, not violence. Compassion, not division. This may be the impossible dream, but it sure beats the alternative. It beats wasting this gift of life on fear, anger and resentment.
Tom explores the ironies, as well.
I take on the bad guys, hate media from the right. It was only a matter of time. Don't forget how this ties in to Tara's fight for some moral accountability right here in Idaho for hate speech spewing on the radio from Murtaugh. Click my name.
Posted by: Sisyphus | July 30, 2008 at 09:31 AM
Thanks, Sisyphus. Some good links, there.
I take your point about the angry fringe dwellers. I prefer to hail the heroism of my peace-loving liberal UU brothers who tacked this wounded soul, took away his gun, and kept him from killing anyone else.
Lift up the good, banish the bad. I'm glad the shooter didn't die so he can fester in prison for the rest of his life.
Posted by: Julie in Boise | July 30, 2008 at 09:50 AM
P.S. Let's stop calling them "the right," because they so clearly aren't.
Posted by: Julie in Boise | July 30, 2008 at 09:51 AM
Sorry sister, I'm guilty. And I'm usually the one making that point but I'm not so disciplined when blogging at the speed of light.
I see the sense of rebranding msm to trad med since these are internet terms. But your crusade on rebranding "right" from its natural double entendre seems a bit quixotic.
Posted by: Sisyphus | July 30, 2008 at 10:26 AM
p.s. myself. You're so Canadian.
Posted by: Sisyphus | July 30, 2008 at 10:27 AM
"But your crusade on rebranding "right" from its natural double entendre seems a bit quixotic."
Oy vey, don't I know it. I sent a bunch of op-eds to major papers and to Newsweek on this topic years ago and didn't get one bite. But I've made the personal commitment to stop using the terms, anyway, and I hope others will consider doing so, too.
Posted by: Julie in Boise | July 30, 2008 at 10:46 AM
Re: the long-running joke of my being Canadian. A month or so ago, I finally watched the film "Blue State," about a California liberal who flees north in disgust after the 2004 elections. SPOILER ALERT: But by the end of the film, he's back in the US, running for the state legislature, cognizant of the idea that we must all fight for change from within.
Of course, I had to laugh at his high dudgeon since he lived in the Bay Area, where liberals have it oh-so-hard. It was still a good message, though it would've been much better if he'd been a RED state rebel.
Posted by: Julie in Boise | July 30, 2008 at 10:50 AM
Nods they have been in my thoughts too, and the amazing folks that stood up and said no --
A gal I know (from online) had her kids there preforming... for me it was yet another reminder that we live in a small world, a very small world.
There are not that many differences, and we all have a choice for what we will stand up for; easier to do when it is simple and no work involved. Yet a lot of folks willing to do it when it is hard....
t
Posted by: theresa | July 30, 2008 at 06:16 PM
Hi. I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
I am from United and , too, and now am writing in English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "They aim that darwin's head was that typical hair may be long for many ancestors."
:P Thanks in advance. Kirsi.
Posted by: Kirsi | September 05, 2009 at 03:09 AM