Today's MOMENT OF ZEN II 12/16/12

Words and photo by F loBuono

No matter what side of the gun control debate you may be on, we're all hurting and we're all angry. Most of us cannot fathom that such evil even exists in the world. But, obviously, it most certainly does. And it manifested itself in the form of one, seriously deranged 20 year-old young man in rural Connecticut. It's hard to wrap one's mind around the sheer horror of what happened there. What would be easy to do is to hate. We're mad and we want someone to pay. We wished that Adam Lanza had the balls to survive - so that we might not only understand why he committed such a heinous crime, but to make him pay for it as well. We would make him suffer as mightily as he has made others suffer. Yes, that would be so easy. But it would also be so wrong. First, no human being in their right mind could even conceive of perpetrating such an act. This was done by someone who had lost all touch with any type of human emotion - beyond pure, unadulterated hate. Second, if we hate the haters, are we any better than they are? If we yield to hate, does the evil win? Does spending that kind of energy, negative energy, really accomplish anything?

Now, I'm not talking about forgiveness. True, transcendent forgiveness is beyond my pay grade. Ultimate justice lies within someone else's (or somethings) district. What I am more interested in is forgetfulness. No, of course NOT for the victims. They should never and WILL never be forgotten. But, rather, the absence of even a mention of the evil that spawned this entire tragedy would be a better response. It WILL BE forgotten. It will not live, even in infamy. But try not to hate. If you hate, than hate wins. It cannot. It must not.