Thinking About The Aurora Shooting

A lot of people in my community (including me) are asking the question, “Why?”

We are reeling from the painful loss of innocent life — 12 people were gunned down at a movie premier in the early hours of the morning today… although no one can answer why, we should begin to do some soul searching.

Aurora, Colorado experienced pure evil.  No, I’m not referring to the killer.  Although, his actions embody evil:

• Evil is the complete absence of God.
• Evil reigns when people are not bound by a moral internal compass.
• Evil is the absence of order, of truth, and of life.
• Evil leads to despair.

What should our response be today?  I’m tempted to hate the gun man… I’m tempted to point my finger at someone else and find blame… I’m tempted to do a lot of things that will never bring back those innocent victims.

My first response is to grieve… to spend a day grieving over the loss… it hurts… this day feels exactly like the shock and horror of the Columbine massacre.

The words of Francis Schaeffer shape the course of long term action I want to take.  This may sound complicated, but look closely at what he writes:

There is a flow to history and culture. This flow is rooted and has its wellspring in the thoughts of people. People are unique in the inner life of the mind — what they are in their thought-world determines how they act. This is true of their value systems and it is true of their creativity. It is true of their corporate actions, such as political decisions, and it is true of their personal lives. The results of their thought-world flow through their fingers or from their tongues into the external world. This is true of Michelangelo’s chisel, and it is true of a dictatorís sword.
(How Should We Then Live?)

My hope is to shape the thinking of my children.  My hope is that more father will learn to shape the thinking of their children.  My hope is that or nation will have so many men shaping the thinking of children that our girls and boys will not grow up in despair.

Let’s go back to Shaeffer one more time:

[T]he Bible tells us true things about people and about nature. It does not give men and women exhaustive truth about the world and the cosmos, but it does give truth about them. So one can know many true things about nature, especially why things exist and why they have the form they have. Yet, because the Bible does not give exhaustive truth about history and the cosmos, historians and scientists have a job to do, and their work is not meaningless. To be sure, there is a total break between God and His creation, that is, between God and created things; God is infinite and created things are finite. But man can know both truth about God and truth about the things of creation because in the Bible God has revealed Himself and has given man the key to understanding God’s world.

Where is my focus?  It’s on figuring out who God is.  It’s understanding how He sees me.  I believe that’s the only way out of despair and into a way that thinks about higher and nobler purposes.  Without understanding God, and how he views me, I’m only left to “look inside myself”… or to think that I am the “standard”… for many of us, that only leads us to think that life is meaningless.

How are you going to shape the next generation?  How will your “worldview” lead your children away fro despair and into a life of purpose?  Let me know how you are processing this day (post a replay or send me an email at jshanselman@gmail.com)

Great Idea!

Someone posted something (I think it was on Twitter) about the genesis of an idea.  The question boiled down to this: where do you get good ideas?  I would even expand it to: how do you get a good idea?

Thomas Edison would say, “Originality is the art of concealing your source.”  I think I would answer the question the same way… because I never have an original thought… but I do recognize a good idea when it comes my way.  Even though I don’t have brand new ideas, it doesn’t mean I abandon thinking altogether.  For me, it’s the hunt to find the right idea at the right time.

People who can think creatively and solve complex problems will always be in high demand.  In fact, “A person who knows how may always have a job, but a person who knows why will always be his boss (author unknown).”  The trouble is taking the time and effort to get your thoughts together… or even believing that you can think creatively.

Sometimes, we need a little motivation to get a great idea… and from unlikely sources at times.  If you believe the premise of the movie, The Social Network, the film maker implies that the concept of Facebook emerged from a fight (and subsequent breakup) between Mark Zuckerberg and his girlfriend.  All the motivation he needed to change the world … was to get dumped by a girl!

So, I don’t recommend terminating a relationship to get an idea… but we do need to think about where and when we think.  My wife contends her best ideas happen over her morning bowl of cereal (Captain Crunch inspires her!).  My ideas happen while driving and talking… or reading a book… or minding the scrolling feed on Twitter.

Try this… decide you will come up with one good idea to share.  Float it out there in a blog, on Twitter, or Facebook.  Get some feedback and then make it into a great idea.  Do you have enough courage?  Ideas seem sacred… and I hate criticism as the next guy, but we can never stretch ourselves without stretching our thinking.  “Nothing limits achievement like small thinking; Nothing expands possibilities like unleashed thinking.”

What’s the best thought you’ve ever had… share it (jshanselman@gmail.com) and let’s unleash some thinking!