Fresh from the rare military death sentence being issued for the 2009 Fort Hood Shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people and wounded 31, comes yet another military massacre! The Nation, and military in particular, was just hit again with another horrible massacre at the Washington D.C. Naval Yard. This strike immediately made the news and has drawn the world’s attention rather quickly, given that it was on a military base and so close to the U.S. Capital and White House. Again, 13 souls have passed into Eternity, with 8 or more other injuries from the multiple gun battles with police, before the shooter, Aaron Alexis, was killed. More information about the shooter and shooting is still coming out, but no doubt, this latest military massacre is yet another horrible shooting that will leave us with many more lessons needing to be learned!
What are these lessons to learn? Well, this shooting has already led many to bring up the gun discussion once again. As I have previously written, there are many things to consider (see my 01-16-13 “Gunned Down” blog or even the 04-09-13 article, “Gun Control or GOD Control?”). No doubt, there are many lessons that the military needs to consider as well, such as security issues or even communication weaknesses. Given that the main problem here lies not with any gun or even any military issue, the attention on the shooter and even his mental stability is very appropriate. Indeed, the one behind the gun should be the focus of our attention along with the atmosphere leading to the decision to shoot others. Any such massacre of human life certainly does come from a mind that is mentally unstable. This most recent shooter is no different.
Investigation has shown that the shooter of this massacre had a deep problem with anger, which is a problem each of us must learn to control or else it will end up controlling us! A whole article could be written about that. Added to this, Aaron Alexis had been hearing voices and believing he was being followed and even influenced by “some sort of microwave machine” that those allegedly following him were using to send vibrations into his body. Clearly, something was going on in his mind that even troubled police interacting with him in Rhode Island, to send an alert to the military through the Navy police. The opportunity to get him help was obviously lost somehow in the Navy system of following up on this. Furthermore, opportunities were likely lost to help him at a couple of Veterans Administrative hospitals that he reportedly went to seeking some sort of care.
Aaron Alexis is also said to have practiced Buddhism. Much could be said there, but clearly he did not find any peace within Buddhism that gave him victory over his anger or kept him from the rampage of this military massacre. It could even be argued that any philosophical understanding of Buddhism supported the possibility of his hearing voices and interacting with them as some kind of enlightenment into a higher consciousness or experience of karma. His Buddhist faith was not enough to help him keep from 8-10 military misconduct charges from traffic offenses to disorderly conduct. Clearly, he was not enlightened to protect human life and may have even been awakened to real demonic forces that tried to destroy him and get him to massacre others.
Friends, if we hope to prevent any future military massacre or future school shooting, such as what changed the world through the Virginia Tech Tragedy, then we had better acknowledge the lessons to learn here. We had better learn to find victory over personal anger and stress through a personal relationship with the Sovereign Creator, Who was Himself willing to suffer for His self-willed Created beings. We had best learn that each of us can only find forgiveness and victory over self through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins. When we find this personally, we will respect a Sovereign Creator and His Creation, working to preserve life and not destroy it. We will work to help others find this personal forgiveness and victory over a sinful self, the only sure way to prevent any future massacres. May this latest Military Massacre teach us all!
Lessons To Learn Ministries 