How to Find Peace in the Face of Horror?

May 24, 2009-M said:

I understand that FG is in [jail] division 9. Is that the most miserable place? He murdered a relative, and her baby in January. I hope he is getting punked everyday. I also understand that he has lost major weight. Hopefully he is being tortured. Is it so?

May 24, 2009-L responded:

This man clearly is dangerous and should be kept away from society. BUT, M, I will pray for you. It does not make things better to have such hate in your heart. God teaches to love thine enemy – you don’t have to forgive him or even like him. He deserves a life sentence, but wishing evil things on others only makes hearts cold and minds numb. I will pray for you that you somehow find peace with this awful event. Whether he is truly evil, mentally deranged, sociopathic, psychotic, or whatever doesn’t matter. Those who were close to the people he tortured and killed are suffering greatly. How do they go on? How do they find peace?

May 25, 2009-M said:

Thanks for your comment L. It is hard to forgive someone who shoots a 10 month old baby in the back of the head, and back at point blank range. I won’t even mention what he did to the mother. How do you shoot someone in both arms, both legs, the back, and the head. I want him to be tortured, like the torture he puts out. We won’t even mention the past relationships that he had. None of the media covered his last court date, so I wasn’t able to see “it” on television.

May 25, 200- L responded:

M: I know it is hard to imagine forgiveness in such horrendous situation, but you won’t find peace until you do. There are many people around the world, including in my family who have suffered awfully in indescribable ways by torture at war or by criminals. The media doesn’t care. Only God cares. Remember we all suffer until the day we die and are relieved of our pain of living. That is the nature of life. It is how we bear our suffering that matters most.

Other’s writings help me put the horror of what happens in life in perspective:

M- You are suffering horribly. The living often suffer more than the dead.

Dostoevski wrote in regards to human dignity even in a concentration camp where there is much suffering:

“There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings.”

Man is certainly capable of the most unspeakable horrors!

Victor E Frankl wrote:

“Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of.

And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.”

Two wrongs do NOT make a right.

You might want to read his book: “Man’s Search for Meaning.” He tells how he found meaning in life even in a concentration camp, after his family was murdered and as he watched for years the most indescribable horrors. He saw beyond the horrors of the living and what man can do. He was able to find peace. You must too.