Perspective on a Tragedy

I definitely don't want to get political.  I definitely don't want to get philosophical.  (My editor-in-chief will probably start sweating bullets when he reads those first two statements...) But I saw something yesterday on Facebook (posted by my favorite Austin wedding photographer, Eric Hegwer) that just really resonated with me and I thought I would share.

I have no idea who originally posted this (and I hope to goodness that Eric Parsons is not someone who I fundamentally disagree with on everything else), but how true a statement!

On NPR yesterday, they were discussing the terrible shooting in Wisconsin at the Sikh temple.  Someone innocently asked "Do you think they (Sikhs) were incorrectly targeted because Sikhs wear turbans" (One can only suspect that "incorrectly targeted" translates to - in a PC way since this was NPR - "mistaken for a Muslim")

If the shooter had correctly identified his (perceived) target, would this make any more sense to anyone?

I will openly admit to my own shallow thinking: When I heard about the shooting, my first thought was 'oh no, not a Sikh temple!  Didn't the shooter know enough about their religion to know they're peaceful people!'

Do you see why I completely resent that I thought like that? 

First, WHY SHOULD ANY OF THAT MATTER?  The problem should not be that he potentially targeted the 'wrong' religion, but that he felt the need to target - and kill - anyone at all!  At their religious establishment, no less!  Second, aren't all of the major religions - even those we don't agree with - peaceful at the core?  I bet that most people would verbally agree that someone from any faith who resorts to violence in the name of their religion is radical and not representative of the religion as a whole.  But, in our heads and quiet inner thoughts, I wish that we - myself included - would stop holding stereotypical judgements about which religions or churches are "peaceful" or "nice" or "radical" or "violent".  I think it skews our perception about who is more or less undeserving when something tragic happens to them as a people.

I have some very good Sikh friends, which may be why this particular shooting impacted me like it did.  However, I also have good friends who are Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, agnostic, "non-practicing" of whatever religion they were raised in, and, obviously, Christian.  As a religious person, I hate that someone from any religion is purposefully targeted for their faith. I hate that those from a religion feel the need to target others because those others practice a different faith.

And I hate how, during a tragedy like this, we waste a lot of our time and energy asking the wrong damn questions.