The Dark Knight Rises

It makes you wonder. How can someone toss a smoke bomb in a packed movie theatre while he wears a gas mask, then open fire? Twenty are killed including a baby. Fifty are wounded. The Dark Knight who did it was passive when he was arrested afterwards. He'd made his point, I suppose and didn't have another one to make. My daughter Chelsea donned her Batman cape last night and she and Sam went to the premier in Atlanta. It could have happened there but it took place in Colorado ... again. I happened to be in Washington D.C. when the Columbine survivors ... all kids ... were there having a press conference on the steps of Congress. I don't recall any Congressmen being there. I listen to them make pledges and pleas that this will never happen again. It has. Why do bad things happen to good people? Hell, why do bad things happen at all? Philosophers claim "It is what it is", accept it because there's nothing you can do about it. They ask questions but don't really know answers. Theologians say, "God loves you anyway" or "God's pissed and is trying to teach us a lesson." They don't know but pretend like they do. Politicians take advantage of the opportunity. They get more free press time as they wail while smiling at the camera making promises they have no intention of keeping. The rest of us wonder ... why would somebody do that? We're living in a crazy time of terrorism, politics of hate (and I'm speaking of Republicans and Democrates at every level in the United States), dysfunctional religion, televisions broadcast murders being solved more than any other topic, while Bachelors and Bachelorettes disregard people as they claw for what they want and Gangsta Music sings about "bitches and Ho's" outsells everything else. It's easy to blame these things. The truth of the matter is when the Beatles were singing, "All you need is love," Charles Manson and his family were butchering people left and right. Andy Griffen himself couldn't have made a difference. Ever since Cain killed Abel, it's been this way. The next round of bad has happened. Everybody's first reaction is groaning the simplest of prayers, "Oh God." This is quickly followed by the second prayer, "Thank you Lord that it wasn't my child ... or me." The third prayer is for those who were killed or the now devastated families. It's a beautiful day today. The sun hangs in a brilliant blazing sky. Choirs of birds are singing. Ocean breezes dance with lush green trees. The sins of the night have been scrubbed clean. Most were refreshed with a good night's sleep. The day is filled with duties to be performed or escapes to be had. It's the weekend so everybody's looking forward to it. I know that I am. But it's not a perfect world. Dark Knights rise. Bad things happen. People die before they should. Corruption reigns in business and politics. People passionately take sides. Judgement is swift except in the courts. The media glorifies each of these things. So I offer my morning prayers ... "Hey God. We could use a little more help here. These kinds of things just shouldn't happen. Babies shouldn't be born flawed or imperfect. Hurricanes, tornatos, and floods shouldn't just show up killing people ... Why do people just shoot each other in a loving world?" "I know Lord that I'll stand before the throne you'll ask me lots of questions about why I did this or that ... I'll do my best to answer ... but then Lord, I'm going have a few questions for you ... they are also all questions that begin with why ... send me to hell if you want to but they deserve to be asked ... and they deserved to be answered." Amen.