Mourning with Others

I've been joining several other people in thought and prayer for the community at Virginia Tech. Our college held an additional worship yesterday with some taizé and readings. This extra service was specifically for the community at Virginia Tech, as well as some losses on our own campus.

School shootings are some of the most difficult situations for me to hear about. I have such a hard time understanding what would make someone approach their classmates...their peers, and open fire. I can't understand it. Was this person ostracized by the community? Was he persecuted? What motivates him to act in a certain way.

We've asked this question before. In Red Lake, in Columbine, in Nickel Mines. Every time this happens we wonder how we as a community or a society is driving people to want to kill us. These are not terrorists from the outside. These are terrorists from within. They are us...but they are somehow not us.

Should we be reaching out to the loners? Should we be keeping an extra eye on them? If someone is a loner, does that mean that he/she is a bomb of rage, just waiting for the right moment to explode?

I wonder if tragedies like these brings diverse groups closer together, or if it builds distrust among a community. Will we learn from these tragedies? Or are we doomed to create new situations in the future? What can we do to heal? And, more importantly, do we want to do what it takes to heal?