On Thursday, January 27th in Tampa, FL this woman, Julie Schenecker killed her two children. She first shot her 13-year old son in the car. Later, she returned home and shot her 16-year old daughter in the head while she was doing homework. Julie had bought the gun the week before and was planning on shooting her children. She also planned on shooting herself afterward, but she did not follow through with it. When the police found her, she showed little remorse for her actions. http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_tampa/two-murder-victims-found-in-new-tampa?hpt=T2Reading this story breaks my heart. Her children were good students and well-liked by their peers. Her husband was overseas serving in the military. As a future counselor, I try to imagine how I would respond to Julie's problems in life BEFORE this incident occurred. What did she really need? What or could have helped her before she reached this breaking point? Did she have a mental illness that needed to be assessed? Did she just need some encouragement in life in order for her to work through these struggles? Did she need someone to stick beside her and not give up on her, despite her negative thoughts or feelings? Maybe she just needed to be able to get a different perspective in life, to be hopeful that it would get better.
I do not agree with the decision that Julie made to take innocent lives. I do not know her or the situation well enough to state any definite diagnosis. I honestly am not sure how comfortable I would have been with helping her before this incident occurred. However, this story gives me even more motivation to be proactive in helping others. We never know when people are on their breaking points or what exactly that breaking point may be. As much as I just want to hide from these problems at times, I know that it is not my place. As a Christian, I must be willing to engage hurting people in a sinful world, not run from them. I must also acquire more knowledge and skills while trusting God to lead me to the best way of showing His love to others.
I read about this, this morning and felt much the same way you describe here. It also reminded me of many tragedies that have occurred where there were clear and obvious warning signs that the person was unstable and that violence was imminent (e.g. Jared Loughner, the man who shot Congresswoman Giffords; Nidal Hasan, responsible for the Fort Hood shootings, etc.). Apparently, social services visited the Schenecker's home to follow up on a complaint suggesting abuse in the home but they found nothing "out of the ordinary". Sad indeed.
ReplyDeleteI can't agree with you more, about being more willing to engage hurting people in this world. It is so hard sometimes to stay with someone in the mist of their pain. It is much easier to run. Sadly the church does very little to help hurting people. This story is sad. I hate to hear about things like this.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis news was issued by worldwide. I also saw this news. It was unbelievable situation that mom killed her children. It is also sad new in our society. Not even this news only one happening in worldwide. Actually, I think many mental problem and illness found every where. If someone care about what they want and what they need for help, we can reduced this kind of matter rather than ignoring the person.
ReplyDelete