Reacting to the Bombing

Events like last week's bombing in Boston cause all of us, Christians and non-Christians alike, to ask questions about people, motives, evil, and God. Emotionally, we as Americans joined the people of Boston in the search for the people responsible for the horrible act that caused so much death and destruction. Before we had a definite target to direct our anger towards, much of that anger was probably vented in those questions and that search.

Now, however, we have a person to be angry at; we have someone to blame for the death of children and threat to our national security. This man and his deceased brother are not pitied by America, but despised. 

It's always hard to know how to react in these situations. My first reaction as an American was, of course, anger. The threat to my country, the proximity of the bombing to my close relatives, the children and people that died and were intentionally injured were all contributors to that anger. 

A couple days after the bombing, I picked up a book that changed my perspective a little. This book, The Reagan Diaries, is a collection of President Reagan's day to day writings and journals from his terms as president. As I was reading, I reached the section where Reagan describes the day that he got shot in an assassination attempt. He's looking back on his arrival at the hospital in this excerpt: 

I focused on that tiled ceiling and prayed. But I realized I couldn't ask for God's help while at the same time I felt hatred for the mixed up young man who had shot me. Isn't that the meaning of the lost sheep? We are all God's children and therefore equally beloved by Him.
I began to pray for his soul and that he would find his way back to the fold.

His perspective amazed me. Shortly after being shot, President Reagan realized how important forgiveness was. While many of us were not directly affected by the bombings in Boston last week, we were affected because we are Americans. A challenge for us in this situation is to pray for the living man responsible for this terrible act. In fact, as a man who attends my church requested last night, let's go further and pray for all of the young men in America who are struggling with violent thoughts towards other Americans.
Praying for them though, is going to require us to put aside hatred and open ourselves to God's love. God loves them. We are called to the same.

-Meaghan

Reagan, Ronald. The Reagan Diaries . 1st ed. . New York: Harper Collins, 2007. xi . Print.