Silence

This week the muse is silent. Every time I tried to jot down a few thoughts on this subject or that, an idea or two about thing or another, it always seemed so inconsequential in the shadow of the unspeakable horror at Virginia Tech. Everything seems trivial in comparison.

It would be too easy to add to the blathering of blame that's currently making the rounds, such as...

...finding fault with the school's security and/or alarm systems,

...lamenting the fact that we're all being held hostage by the NRA's gun control lobby and the spinelessness of our legislators to deal with it,

...condemnation of the media for giving a platform from which the assassin can postumously spew his venomous bile,

...yada, yada, yada.

One of the affirmations we made at our baptismal vows has to do with the renunciation of "the evil powers of this world which destroy the creatures of God", and this week we've had a first-hand personification of that evil. There is no explanation of it, no defense of it, no rationalization for it. Evil simply is, it exists, and we renounce it. All the other words are, at least for now, unnecessary.

So enough already. Give it a rest. There's plenty of time in the days to come for thoughtful analysis of and some appropriate response to the evil this tragedy presents. For today let's just grieve in silence, let's pray to God for some wisdom that's stronger than the killer's hatred, and let's listen when the muse returns to speak.