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June 2009 
Virginia Tech Tragedy
Posted on Apr 17th, 2007
by 
Zentertainment Talk Radio
Zentertainment Talk Radio
Hey Everyone,
Somebody wrote me yesterday morning, and he said, "Hey Jo...I just heard about what happened at Virginia Tech...most tragic...I'm trying to put something like this into perspective, but am having a hard time doing so. What a horrible thing to have happened. How do we apply a positive attitude to something so terrible, so evil? I know prayer is in order for the families of the victims, but is that enough? What can we do to prevent something like this from happening again? "
I don't pretend to have answers for all of the big questions. Anyone who kills innocent people, is a person in a great deal of pain. Only love can heal that pain. I feel like the best thing we can do is actually to pray. What a terrible tragedy this has been, for sure. When we pray for people, we ourselves also become changed. If every one of us becomes more connected to the Divine and more connected to love, then that love cannot help but spill out into the world and onto each other. While we cannot prevent evil from happening, if we pray to transform the violence in ourselves into peace, then slowly the world will change.
This week, let someone know they matter. Who knows, maybe they have been feeling invisible or feeling that they don't matter at all. This week, let someone know that they have inspired you or made a difference in your life. This small act of praise might be just the thing to keep them going. This week, do some random act of kindness for somebody who will never thank you personally, and yet might be deeply touched and then go on to touch others.
We often do not realize the influence we have on others. The well known author Carolyn Myss, told a story this weekend about a man who was going to commit suicide. He was trying to figure out which way he would do it. He went to cross the street on his way home to basically kill himself. In that moment a woman in a car smiled and waved him ahead, even though she had the right of way. That small tiny thing made him change his mind, and he decided to live.
When you are a channel for grace, you might never know how you have influenced someone else. I think that is the best thing we can do. Be that channel. It does not mean you have to be perfect. This also does not deny grief, rage, or pain. Sometimes bad things happen, and we look so hard for reasons, because we want to understand how to prevent tragedies and suffering. This is what I know. Love is a far greater healer than our endless searches and explanations to explain suffering. Love is the only true medicine we have. All we can do is open up to love and keep that love flowing even when it hurts the most. And sometimes it hurts beyond words.
One woman at Virginia Tech was in her German class. The killer came into the classroom and killed almost every student in the class. She pretended she was dead, in order to survive. Who can explain something such as this?
There are no cliches for suffering that make any sense whatsoever, nor are any needed. Prayer is all there is. It is everything. Prayer is oxygen and breath for the soul. It heals, it moves, and like water it washes over us and shapes us sometimes through great pain, into the pearls we become. It takes a great deal of time to heal such deep wounds, and some never heal completely. They become losses we learn to live with, that make us who we are. Usually there are no short cuts to healing. First there is the shock, the adrenaline, and then over time the task of trying to process the experience and heal in some way.
Seane Corn ia a dedicated, well known yoga instructor who I sat down and talked to this past weekend. Trauma affects us deeply on cellular levels. I think of what people go through every day in third world countries, or in war torn places like Iraq. Can yoga along with therapy actually help us heal from traumas? Can it be a tool we can all use to heal our emotions, process pain and stuck emotions?
These are just a few topics that we discussed, and you can hear the entire conversation on my episode of Zentertainment Talk Radio with Seane Corn on www.zentertainment.org
This might not apply for you, but here is what I do when there is a national tragedy that is on the news. I watch tv, get the facts, get informed, and then I turn off the tv. If I keep watching the replays of the painful scenes over and over, I feel sucked more into the darkness. Instead of focusing on the pain over and over, I turn my focus into a prayer for peace. Maybe this conversation with Seane can be some form of prayer for you, a way to turn your mind towards the light as we all pray for the families who have lost those they love in this tragedy.
Peace,
Jo Zentertainment Talk Radio www.zentertainment.org *****************************************************
Seane Corn has been on the covers of Yoga Journal, Nike Goddess. Inner Vision and Healing Retreat and Spa Magazine and has been featured in numerous magazines including Glamour, Fitness, Self and Allure, who recognize her as "one of the most sought after yoga teachers in Los Angeles." Selected by Nike to represent yoga, she has appeared in their national commercials and print campaigns. She has recently released her first video series, Vinyasa Flow Yoga: Uniting Movement and Breath and Vinyasa Flow Yoga: The Body and Beyond, which has national distribution through Gaiam Inc. Seane created the yoga program at "Children of the Night," a shelter that houses and educates adolescent prostitutes. As their National Yoga Ambassador, Seane is a dedicated activist for YouthAIDS, whose mission is to raise funds, provide services and spread national awareness surrounding this global emergency.
www.seanecorn.com
Somebody wrote me yesterday morning, and he said, "Hey Jo...I just heard about what happened at Virginia Tech...most tragic...I'm trying to put something like this into perspective, but am having a hard time doing so. What a horrible thing to have happened. How do we apply a positive attitude to something so terrible, so evil? I know prayer is in order for the families of the victims, but is that enough? What can we do to prevent something like this from happening again? "
I don't pretend to have answers for all of the big questions. Anyone who kills innocent people, is a person in a great deal of pain. Only love can heal that pain. I feel like the best thing we can do is actually to pray. What a terrible tragedy this has been, for sure. When we pray for people, we ourselves also become changed. If every one of us becomes more connected to the Divine and more connected to love, then that love cannot help but spill out into the world and onto each other. While we cannot prevent evil from happening, if we pray to transform the violence in ourselves into peace, then slowly the world will change.
This week, let someone know they matter. Who knows, maybe they have been feeling invisible or feeling that they don't matter at all. This week, let someone know that they have inspired you or made a difference in your life. This small act of praise might be just the thing to keep them going. This week, do some random act of kindness for somebody who will never thank you personally, and yet might be deeply touched and then go on to touch others.
We often do not realize the influence we have on others. The well known author Carolyn Myss, told a story this weekend about a man who was going to commit suicide. He was trying to figure out which way he would do it. He went to cross the street on his way home to basically kill himself. In that moment a woman in a car smiled and waved him ahead, even though she had the right of way. That small tiny thing made him change his mind, and he decided to live.
When you are a channel for grace, you might never know how you have influenced someone else. I think that is the best thing we can do. Be that channel. It does not mean you have to be perfect. This also does not deny grief, rage, or pain. Sometimes bad things happen, and we look so hard for reasons, because we want to understand how to prevent tragedies and suffering. This is what I know. Love is a far greater healer than our endless searches and explanations to explain suffering. Love is the only true medicine we have. All we can do is open up to love and keep that love flowing even when it hurts the most. And sometimes it hurts beyond words.
One woman at Virginia Tech was in her German class. The killer came into the classroom and killed almost every student in the class. She pretended she was dead, in order to survive. Who can explain something such as this?
There are no cliches for suffering that make any sense whatsoever, nor are any needed. Prayer is all there is. It is everything. Prayer is oxygen and breath for the soul. It heals, it moves, and like water it washes over us and shapes us sometimes through great pain, into the pearls we become. It takes a great deal of time to heal such deep wounds, and some never heal completely. They become losses we learn to live with, that make us who we are. Usually there are no short cuts to healing. First there is the shock, the adrenaline, and then over time the task of trying to process the experience and heal in some way.
Seane Corn ia a dedicated, well known yoga instructor who I sat down and talked to this past weekend. Trauma affects us deeply on cellular levels. I think of what people go through every day in third world countries, or in war torn places like Iraq. Can yoga along with therapy actually help us heal from traumas? Can it be a tool we can all use to heal our emotions, process pain and stuck emotions?
These are just a few topics that we discussed, and you can hear the entire conversation on my episode of Zentertainment Talk Radio with Seane Corn on www.zentertainment.org
This might not apply for you, but here is what I do when there is a national tragedy that is on the news. I watch tv, get the facts, get informed, and then I turn off the tv. If I keep watching the replays of the painful scenes over and over, I feel sucked more into the darkness. Instead of focusing on the pain over and over, I turn my focus into a prayer for peace. Maybe this conversation with Seane can be some form of prayer for you, a way to turn your mind towards the light as we all pray for the families who have lost those they love in this tragedy.
Peace,
Jo Zentertainment Talk Radio www.zentertainment.org *****************************************************
Seane Corn has been on the covers of Yoga Journal, Nike Goddess. Inner Vision and Healing Retreat and Spa Magazine and has been featured in numerous magazines including Glamour, Fitness, Self and Allure, who recognize her as "one of the most sought after yoga teachers in Los Angeles." Selected by Nike to represent yoga, she has appeared in their national commercials and print campaigns. She has recently released her first video series, Vinyasa Flow Yoga: Uniting Movement and Breath and Vinyasa Flow Yoga: The Body and Beyond, which has national distribution through Gaiam Inc. Seane created the yoga program at "Children of the Night," a shelter that houses and educates adolescent prostitutes. As their National Yoga Ambassador, Seane is a dedicated activist for YouthAIDS, whose mission is to raise funds, provide services and spread national awareness surrounding this global emergency.
www.seanecorn.com
Access: Public
Hi Jo,
There is a lot of wisdom in your words. I found myself getting a little upset yesterday as all the new unfolded and reporters kept trying to pin blame for the tragedy on VTech's president and police force. “Why didn't you…What took you so long…etc.” Yes, we do strike back when we are hurt. Our animal instinct is to defend ourselves but maybe this is the time to help the Great Shift of Consciousness come about. I felt a little guilty thinking to myself, “Hey, this is Iraq every single day, twice over.” Then it came to me that the only thing people can do to stop these kind of tragedies from occuring at VTech or in Baghdad or anywhere else is to deliberately change their attitudes. If we don't want to live in a culture of bloodshed and violence, what can we do to make it stop? Well, for one thing, we can refuse to contribute any money to violence by boycotting violent film, videos, games, music, etc. We can ban these type of things from our lives. We have power of the purse. Second, we can work our tails off to create laws against anyone owning hand guns and assault weapons. We can make the NRA so loathesome that no one would dream of being a member. We can make warfare the last resort instead of the first response. Finally, we can get down to the business of addressing the culture that causes people to hurt so much that they strike out at others. We can address poverty, lack of education, lack of healthcare, lack of security, the lack of the basic things we need in life so that no one feels compelled to take anything from anyone else or feel fearful that they don't have enough. Each of these big things can start from very simple steps that each one of us can take if we choose every single day. Sitting around waiting for the government or the police or anybody else to “fix” things is useless. It's trite, but we really do have to “be the change.”
Namaste.
Kat
Thank you both for posting. People need to read and learn to switch channels but creating a better tomorrow. We at zaadz are helping to build a better world and it makes sense to not spin in or watch the reruns and additives the news puts out. Their product is chaos and injecting fear. Out create it!
Nice to go to your website and recharge! We do what we can to confront situations and lead on to spiral life upwards.
Namaste,
Kathy
Hi Jo,
Thanks for writing the blog. I am still sort of processing the events at Virginia Tech. To be honest, I haven't been watching the talking heads and the experts and whoever discuss this one way or the other. A lot of young students are dead, and we can't do anything about that, but grieve and show solidarity, empathy and love for their families and friends. As for that kid who did all the kililng, I can't imagine the darkness and chaos and incredible emptiness of self love and esteem that was going on within him to do such evil. There's a saying that a killer can just as easily kill himself as the victim (which happened here). I think, and hopefully the sort of positive energy and love that this site and other communities out there can work to increase the sense of self love and esteem in all people no matter where they are through both individual and community interaction. When people love themselves and have self esteem and a connection to the divine, there will be no product of evil.
Namaste and One Love.
~Rocky
“We often do not realize the influence we have on others. The well known author Carolyn Myss, told a story this weekend about a man who was going to commit suicide. He was trying to figure out which way he would do it. He went to cross the street on his way home to basically kill himself. In that moment a woman in a car smiled and waved him ahead, even though she had the right of way. That small tiny thing made him change his mind, and he decided to live…. When you are a channel for grace, you might never know how you have influenced someone else. ”
Thanks for this insight and sharing the story from Carolyn Myss. What a wonderful lesson to take away from such a terrible event. The simple act of kindness, the ripples and the effect evolving into waves of well being. “A channel for grace…” The words and thought are an evocative expression of an elegant beauty.
Liam
Your words are such truth-thank you for sharing them and for making some sense of such a painful and senseless experience…