Losing Alone

WDBJ-TV journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward

How do you resolve a dispute?

Will you let the other person have his way, or will you fight to the death for what you want?

But the woman whose son was alive said to the king-because compassion for her son burned within her-"Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!" The other said, "It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it."- 1 Kings 3:26

On today's reading from the book of Kings, Solomon is faced with a troubling problem.  Which woman is telling the truth?

For him, though, the resolution was simple.  For the women, it was a matter of life and death for the boy.  The one who spared the boy's life was the real mother, and he knew that because she was willing to lose in order that he may gain his life.

In the news this week, a man who lost his job took the matter into his own hands and killed a reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward.  This man whose name I will not dignify, was not willing to lose alone, but decided to take others with him.

This is all too familiar a scene lately, isn't it?

What gives us the right to take the life of another?

When Solomon offered to cut the boy in half, the one woman was fine with that.  If I can't have him, neither will you.

Is that the way we should look at conflict?

Sometimes it is not possible for us to come up with a win-win solution.  Sometimes someone has to lose.  But we don't like to lose.

So we settle for a lose-lose scenario?  Is it better that no one wins?

When it comes to things of this world, all that really matters is saving lives.  Everything is transient and only life matters.  It should be preserved as long as possible, as well as possible.

Taking lives to benefit ourselves is wrong, and asking someone to sacrifice his life for me is just as wrong in my book, so how can anyone justify taking a life?

I find it hard to pray for the soul of the man who killed the journalists because he lost his job.  Perhaps if I truly believe he was insane it might be easier to accept, but writing a 26 page rant and calling the news are signs that this man knew what he was doing and didn't care about anyone but himself.

That is the true illness.  We have become way too selfish and heartless.

I pray for a cure, for healing, for something to hit these people over the head and make them see that life is too precious to waste, and that life sometimes requires that we accept the fact that we don't always win.  Sometimes we lose alone.

It sucks, but get over it.

More to come...