Meanness

Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts, in a column that ran on April 20, talked of the shooting at Virginia Tech. He quoted Nikki Giovanni, poet and professor who had taught the shooter, who talked about him. Among other things, according to Pitts, Ms. Giovanni said this, “''I know we're talking about a troubled youngster and crap like that, but troubled youngsters get drunk and jump off buildings; troubled youngsters drink and drive. I've taught troubled youngsters. I've taught crazy people. It was the meanness that bothered me. It was a really mean streak.''
Pitts concluded his column with these words, “You hear few people putting it that way, which isn't surprising. After you've established that there is meanness in the world, where do you go from there? Blame the police or mental health care, and the implication is that here is something we can get our hands around, something we can fix. But how can you fix meanness? How can you fix a deadness of the soul?”
“Some days, you look for answers. Some days, you seek things you can fix. But some days, I think, you just have to swallow the bitter pill that there is a meanness in this world. That will never pass for wisdom. But it feels an awful lot like truth.”
For Christians who believe in evil, the meanness that these folks talk about is personified as Satan, the Devil, or the Evil One. Choose whichever you want…to personify it or to just admit there is “meanness” in the world. Either way, the result is the same. People are killed. People are raped. People are abused. There are wars, famines, oppression, and genocide. There is, as a result of this meanness (or Satan…take your pick) theft, robbery, assault, deceit, rage, neglect, illness, and death.
Pitts’ questions regarding fixing meanness are especially appropriate. He has no answers. Christianity, however, does have an answer…Jesus Christ. That’s what makes Christianity so different from anything the world has ever seen. There is an answer to the unanswerable. There is a fix for meanness; for deadness of the soul. The fix is nothing we can do, but rather is something we can take advantage of because it’s already been done. The only question is whether or not we will do that.