"Aurora heroes: Three who gave their lives"

In my previous post on the Century 16 Shooting, I addressed the following comment about the victims, "When the Joker attacked them, Batman wasn’t there to save them." Further reflection has caused me to see the shameful error in that statement. Although Batman never arrived to vanquish evil and protect innocent life, there were men in that theater who gave their lives for those they loved. 

The following is an excerpt from a piece William Bennett wrote honoring the lives of three men whose acts of valor saved the lives of their girlfriends. 

This Very Present Evil

Century 16

One week ago yesterday a gunman opened fire on a packed movie theater at Century 16 cinema in Aurora, Colorado leaving 12 people dead and 50 seriously wounded.

I never thought I would live to recall a shooting worse than Columbine. I was six years old when my father came home from work with a horrified look on his face. Two teenage boys had opened fire on their fellow classmates at Columbine High School killing twelve students and a teacher and wounding dozens more.

Colorado seems to be an unfortunate target for a lot of shooting sprees. There was the gunman at New Life church in Colorado Springs who shot 6 and killed 2. Six girls at Platte Canyon high school were sexually assaulted before their assailant shot one of the girls. These stories are heartbreaking and yet we continue to teach the youths in our schools that people are basically good.

In our society, evil has become a “mental disorder”. In other words, evil does not originate from the heart. It’s a Hollywood invention purposed to give the good guys something to overcome. It’s what makes a movie exciting, heart-stopping, or horrifying.

Made for Each Other--The Power of Team

I overheard a good friend tell his son, a week or two ago, "You live in an over-sexed culture." I must add over-sexed and individualistic.

Where have man-woman partnerships gone? There was a time, not long ago, in our country's history when men and women worked together as teams. Both inside and outside of marriage, men and women treated each other not as products to be consumed but as potential partners deserving of the respect inherent to their very nature.

Prince Albert and Queen Victoria with their family  

As a young girl, I sadly bought into the cultural lie that boys are products; I felt constantly pressured to try them on like t-shirts at the shopping mall. I began evaluating boys in the basis of how sexually pleasing they were. The ultimate question I would ask myself with every new guy I met was, "would I kiss him?"

I don't believe I can state strongly enough how devastating this behavior is. It destroys God's ordained arrangements for healthy human relationships. Both men and women in our culture today are guilty of playing the part of consumers while treating each other as products. This has radically altered our appetites. Now, instead of searching for life-long partners, we have placed sexual satisfaction at the center of intimate relationships.

"You're just jealous 'cause I've been chatting with babes online."

Ayinde Russell, Slam Poetry National Champion