too much violence...

A high school hockey teammate—who I haven’t seen in years—made a friend request on my Facebook page just days ago. It was a nice gesture. It made me summon up the faces of people that hadn’t entered my mind in years.

On the weekend I learned that he was beaten and stabbed with a broken beer bottle on the street. He was found lying in his own blood. He’s now on life support; I think he will likely recover, though.

Aside from the coincidence of the Facebook contact, I am writing this because it just won’t leave my head. It makes me think of so many things--namely his family and friends. It also reminds me that there really are people out there that will do something this violent. I guess I am sheltered; I live away from the city where there is some crime, but enough time in between events to forget that horrid pit-of-your-stomach feeling that accompanies tragedy of this magnitude.

And moral questions arise. Speculation about the nature of evil creeps into the thought process. (Should we truly pray for those who inflict such harm on others? Should we desire revenge? Is evil just a result of maladjusted emotions? Is evil only  to be seen as evil because we fear the pain ourselves?)

Too much in my head. It seems we often turn these things into being about ourselves. Human nature, I suppose.

But the world, at times, seems twisted and the path shaded by dark actions. I normally focus on the good; on the Spirit.

But shit, this experience can be heavy some days.