Letting Tragedy Touch Us

Many times we let world events just wash over us unless they directly affect us. We see death and destruction from somewhere half way around the world and then return to our lives without too much thought.

The tragic events in Russia over the past few days seemed to have touched many hearts in a way that news stories seldom do.

The other morning I was watching footage from the scene as people, mostly children, ran from where they had been held captive. I was watching some non-english coverage as that’s the only coverage of the event that was on TV at the time. While I couldn’t understand what was being said – the pictures more than told the story.

I found myself being astonished by the scale of the tragedy – yet still somewhat untouched.

That was until I saw a distraught father holding the lifeless body of his child. Then the tears started streaming.

We need to let events like this touch us deeply and move us to action. In all the confusion and mixed feelings – we need to help in practical ways and we need to be moved to pray.

Posted by Rodney Olsen



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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He has worked in radio at Perth's media ministry Sonshine for over 25 years and has previously worked at ministries such as Compassion Australia and Bible Society.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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3 Comments

  • I have found this difficult to watch, and have found myself in tears at the horror especially to these young children, let alone the families. Then there are those that still don’t know what has happened to their kids. It certainly causes me to pray.

  • Rodney, thanks for he spur into action: too often I let things like this wash over me or form opinions in private and not even talk about it with those around me. I often don’t know how to feel about such matters as Beslan or Iraq.

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