No Place for Hate in This World

June 11th, 2009

Wednesday, my wife and I boarded a plane in Tulsa for our vacation trip to Washington DC. The Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Smithsonian museums, and the Holocaust Museum were pretty high on our to-do list and we were excited. Imagine our shock while waiting for our connection in Memphis as we watched the news unfold regarding a shooting at one of the museums we intended to visit. A museum dedicated to educating people about the senselessness of hate, the Holocaust Museum, was the scene of a hate-induced killing.

An 88-year old man, James W. Von Brunn, a reported white supremacist, entered the museum through a door held open by the man he shot and killed, Stephen Johns, when Johns tried to stop him. Von Brunn was also injured when guards shot him.

I was talking to a man today while I was riding to the Metro station. His comment was, “the wrong man died.” I agreed with him at the time, but the more I thought about it, I hope Von Brunn doesn’t die. I wish Johns hadn’t died, either, but I hope Von Brunn lives a long, long time. I hope he lives with full memory and full mental cognizence, but with absolutely no way to care for himself. Trapped inside a body that doesn’t work and dependent on the people he hates to feed him baby food and change his diaper. I think death is too easy an out for him.

With the advances of the last century, jet air travel, television, telephones, internet, etc., this world is a much smaller place and there is absolutely no room for hate.

For more info on the shooter, please see: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/10/james-w-von-brunn-holocau_n_213864.html

For more info on the guard, please see: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/11/museum.shooting.guard/index.html