Head in the Sand

Last week every one's thoughts were on Virginia Tech and like my friend Joanne, the sadness continues to surface. This was one of the events in history that make me think about our lack of access to the media. We haven't had broadcast TV for over three years now and I still have urges to be a voyeur when there is a tragedy as this was. I've missed Tsunamis and shootings and hurricane Katrina, drug addicted people dying with people fighting over their children, and my kids have missed even more as they don't choose CNN when they use the computer. I've wondered if my children's world looks different from not seeing the incessant replays of these events. Are they naive? Do they feel safer not seeing human sadness played out in violence? For every motive in the shootings and suicides, I see a small reflection in our own emotions. We deal with feelings of not having friends, jealously, suffering from past hurts and physical difficulties on a tiny family level. We talk about how God wants us to handle it when you don't feel important or a friend doesn't call. Do I want my kids to see what happens when people don't have the Lord to turn to? I think their strength can be in their innocence. When this generation of kids become adults they may need people who haven't "seen it all" and who assume that all hurts lead to tragedy. I bet they will be able to guess how someone feels after a loved one has died, without even asking them. (I find that to be the most ridiculous media question of all.) Will sheltering them from all this make them less effective to share the Lord with others? I don't know the right answer... so for now - ignorance is bliss.