Virginia Tech shooting

A horrendous tragedy occurred at Virginia Tech yesterday, where an armed man killed 32 people in classrooms and wounded 15 others. My heart sunk with grief when I read the news.

“Something has to change in the mentality of this country,” I protested to myself.

For years, I’ve been convinced that the violent video games children play and murderous movies they watch have produced insensitivity to killing and violence in their thinking. Their moral sense gets dulled and pushed into dormancy while they develop an attitude of “The killing doesn’t matter. It’s all pretend, not real.”

But the mindless mindset developed when playing these games is real in the sense that it affects a person’s attitude about life and how they conduct themselves toward others. It’s an uncaring, thoughtless, callous, indifferent and self-entwined attitude that leads to mindless destruction and self-destruction. It’s not healthy.

It’s been a challenge to help our 13 year old son understand this point, who loves to play video games. “That’s all they make and sell,” he protests. And he’s almost right. It’s very difficult to find engaging video games that don’t have some element of destruction in them. So it has been an on-going effort to educate his moral sensibilities to the importance of keeping his thinking free of the subtle destructive influence these video games perpetuate. I’ve wanted him to understand on his own why they’re harmful, not just because I said so.

So, this morning I asked him if he’d heard about the killings.

He said, “Yes.”

And then I had a little chat with him about keeping our thinking free of violent influences so events like this don’t occur.

He listened attentively.

I was impressed!

I pointed out that in the article the killer was observed as being unemotional about his murders. There was no expression on his face. He was like a mindless zombie on a heartless mission, the newspaper reported. Then he shot himself.

I told my son that large doses of violent games have a similar effect on their players. Gamers start shooting and killing so much they become uncaring about what they’re doing. They don’t think anything of it. It becomes normal to them. And then I explained this is why mom and I don’t like violent video games.

He listened without resistance, for which I was very grateful! And he even agreed with what I said. Hooray!

I think our years of talking on this subject have paid off.

It’s been a challenge because most of his male friends play these games everyday, and when he goes to their homes, the video games are often front and center of activities they choose to play.

Something does need to change in the mentality of our country, and perhaps much of the world. Mindless killing, pretend or not, is not natural or normal and should never be seen as such. It’s evil. It’s very evil, and should be treated for what it is.

I’m praying for all people touched by the tragedy yesterday to find peace of mind, assurance of life eternal and a release from grief. Large doses of Love alone will quench the fear, anger and remorse such events trigger.

But I also ask, “What can I do to help turn the tide of violent thinking so events like this don’t happen again?”

I began with talking to my son about it this morning. It’s a start!

You may have practical tangible steps you can take too.