Here we are again

As I write this, we're about 19 hours past the latest atrocity. This one, of course, in Boston.

As was true the last time I blogged about murderous acts like these, I find I'm at a loss for words. I can't add anything that hasn't already been said. Yet, I can't remain silent either. I ask myself what good I can possibly do just by doing a weekly blog. The answer, of course, is nothing. Yet, after all, a blog is, among other things, a venting mechanism. So I'll vent away...
After the Newtown tragedy, I did go up there for a few hours and it felt like I was doing something to help. I won't be going to Boston. I can't imagine why I would go. I can only do what, I'd hope, any responsible person would do. Which is to keep speculation to myself and my closest friends and to be as patient as possible while the authorities sort it all out. But it sure isn't easy. I want answers right now. I want to find the perpetrators and exact my own justice. I want to know how this could happen, when the authorities knew coming in that this week is THE week for domestic terrorism (if that's what it is).
I don't want to be numb to these tragedies. Yet, numbness seems like a tempting way to go. Imagining what these families must be going through is painful. Part of me wants to avoid all this. Yet, I know this isn't the healthy reaction. The only healthy reaction I can come up with is to be as empathic as I can and know that, despite all this madness, there's something greater than myself that will guide us through it. If this power exists, call it God, the Divine, some life force, then how could this same power allow such a thing to happen?
I recently read a book by Krista Tippett. She hosts a show in Public Radio called On Being. The show was formerly called Speaking of Faith. She often looks at the issues of science and spirituality. She wrote a book replaying conversations she's had over the years on these subjects. One was an interview with Sir John Polkinghorne, who is a physicist and former Anglican priest. His philosophy seems to be that God, as he understands it, essentially gives us tools to work with. We can use them any way we want. I don't entirely understand his views and what I do understand would take too long to put in here. But what he says resonates with me. I can believe that it's up to us to use what God gives us for good or evil.
I believe even more that the only way we can stop these tragedies is to set good examples, especially those of us who are parents. As Graham Nash said, "Teach your children well." Whoever is responsible wasn't taught good lessons. Yet, they ARE responsible. No amount of physical abuse or neglect can mitigate against these atrocities.
I think we all suffer, to varying degrees, from an overload of distractions. I'm as guilty as anyone. I'll go through periods when I want no part of NPR or any other news. I sink into sports stories, sometimes to excess. And when it's excessive, I know in my heart that I'm escaping something. An occasional escape seems healthy. But doing it constantly means I'm not paying attention to things that matter.
And this matters. I want to be brave enough to feel the pain of losing innocent lives. Yet at the same time, I want to believe that if we all do the work we need to, such as quieting our minds, avoiding toxic news, nourishing ourselves, then we'll honor all these lives that were snuffed out in murderous acts like these.