After the Oct 2, 2006 shooting of an Amish school, the world was astonished by the words of one of the Grandfathers of a slain girl. He said "We must not think evil of this man."
Many asked the question could I have the courage to forgive?
This is the question we now face after the wake of the tragedy in VT. Do we have the courage to forgive?
This is the question I have wrestled with for many years, and the current events have made this almost a moment of clarity within my own soul.
I have waited for the right words, and I found them last night on Larry King Live.
KING: Dr. Lipkins, how come it's never a woman?
LIPKINS: I don't know. You know that's a good question. But I think that we shouldn't argue about his diagnosis. We should really try to take mental health out of the closet and start to discuss it in a reasonable way and realize that our children are in pain and we need to fix the system.
KING: We don't do that?
LIPKINS: No, we don't. We have a broken mental health system. I'll guarantee you that. And we have students across the country in high school and college who are in pain and don't have enough services.
KING: That seems idiotic.
LIPKINS: It does.
KING: I mean don't the counselors see it?
LIPKINS: There are not enough counselors. They're overwhelmed. More and more kids are going to college with preexisting emotional disturbances. They're medicated for depression and anxiety. Everybody has sleep disorders.
This brings me back to a moment in my life, still a child, where I found myself tossed casually aside into a ditch; left to die. Everything had been stolen from me, my dignity, my innocence, my pride.
I staggered home, and took the obligatory shower, where I cleansed my body, if not my soul. I was dead, if not physically, inside, my soul was consumed by darkness. What was to follow was years of despair. My shame a secret which had to be hidden, from everyone, including myself. I was a question mark, afraid to look into anyones eyes, for fear that they might see the the shame within my soul.
And yet, the Lord works in mysterious ways. I was fortunate in that I was mentored by a good man. Dr. Leon Aller jr. the 1985 Family Doctor of the Year. A man who had served his country through three wars, who even after the tragic suicide of his only son, continued to serve the community around him. his greatest boast, was that though the wars, and the years that he had spent in missionary service thoughout the most troubled regions in the world, that he had never killed a man.
It was through this example, that I found myself with one question. Would I succumb to the evil that had entered my life, and prey on the innocence of our children, like the monster who had done the same to me, or would I live my life in the service to others like my mentor?
It was this question that lent me strength through the darkest of nights. And so it was that the example of one good man conquered the evil that hid within my soul. And it was through this example that I learned to forgive.
Then one day, after the support of a loving underground community, I did find the courage to forgive. And after that, the Lord entered my life with a chorus of angels, and vanquished the demon within my soul.
The Demon Ax Ishmael.
Faithful Democrats
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