Last night, many excited movie-goers in Colorado settled in to the familiar movie theater seats, chomped on their popcorn and Raisenets, ready to see the latest installment of their favorite comic book saga. It was late, but they were laughing, I'm sure. Many probably came in pajamas, A break from the weekly norm, a midnight debut at the local movie theater. I'm sure most of them had it penned in their calendar or had a reminder in their iPhone for months, had purchased their ticket days in advance.They were planning only on a fun, exciting time.
As the chatter hushed when the lights dimmed and the previews began to roll, no one suspected evil in the air. No one noticed the hidden firearms strategically placed near the emergency exit. None of those twelve people thought, "Today could have been the last time I saw my family, kissed my wife, ate my favorite meal." None of these things probably happened this way- evil works mysteriously like that. It lurks. It creeps. It shows up unexpectedly.
59 people wounded.
12 dead.
At least 3 weapons.
1 24-year-old man on a mission.
A very evil mission.
On the outside, James Egan Holmes seemed to have it all together. Working on his post-graduate work at University of Colorado in Neuroscience. Just moved into a new apartment. Loving parents in San Diego.
That's the scary part. Evil never takes a form that could be recognizable. If you saw him on the street yesterday morning, would you have looked twice? Got a funny feeling in the pit of your stomach? Would you have waved hello, let him go ahead of you in line, commented to him about the weather?
I have never been to Colorado. Never seen the installments of the Batman trilogy. I have seen a midnight movie premier only once in my life. Yet, my heart goes out to the people who sat in the theater, who witnessed evil in its truest, most fleshly form. My heart aches for them as if I was there, or if I knew them all personally. My heart goes out to the people who tried to escape, tried to save their friends and family. Mostly though, my heart goes out to the ones left behind, the ones who were not greeted this morning by their loved ones returning from their movie outing, but greeted instead only by grief, unanswered questions, and anger.
" The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy."
James Holmes did just that last night. He stole. He killed. He destroyed.
Evil is among us. You can not predict it, you can not always identify it, but it is among us.
Don't know if you ever watch "Through the wormhole" with Morgan Freeman on Science channel, but he did a fascinating thing on what makes people do evil things last night.
ReplyDeleteI don't, but I will definitely try to check that out! Sounds interesting. Thanks, Bruce!
DeleteI know there is evil among us. You never know when a tragedy like this will strike and what provokes these unstable people to decide on the time and place to strike. It is very sad, but an ugly reality we all have to live with these days.
ReplyDeleteI'll checkout that show on the Science channel too. I've never seen it.
Thanks for reading, Sunni. It is indeed an ugly world, but we have to decide to be the ones to inject good into it, too.
DeleteWhat a way to die! Whatever pushed that man to commit such an heinous crime is from the pit of hell.I will checkout that show "Through the wormhole"
ReplyDeleteThank you! Tragedy indeed.
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