Another disgruntled teenager (this one 18 years old) shoots up a bunch of random people.
Good think an off-duty cop was in the mall having dinner with his wife. He confronts the guy then teams up with another police office and they put an end to the kids miserable life.
CNN brings us the story of the cop who was off-duty but still carrying his gun who got involved.
This is a story that could have been printed in the hashgacha pratis section of the Hamodia Weekly. If you read the article, the last paragraph is the kicker. If you are not interested in reading the article, I bring to you the last paragraph..
"But Hammond said he hopes he saved lives, and believes "we were
there for a reason. I had my gun on me for a reason. We decided to eat dessert
-- which we normally don't do -- for a reason, she decided to take a break --
everything happened for a reason."
The funny thing is, when I hear stories like this, such as reading them in the Hamodia hashgacha pratis article, I tend to roll my eyes, nod/shake my head, or mouth a cynical 'wow'. Yet when CNN prints a similar story by a non-Jew, the cynicism is gone and, at least my initial reaction, I am impressed.
Why am I, or why are we (if you do the same), more cynical about these things when it comes to frum Jews? Or am I just an aberration?
I probably am as well... though that's partly due to the oozing tone in a publication like Hamodia.
ReplyDeleteBetter note: Thank God people can carry in this country. Anti-gun advocates? Take note. Which one had their gun legally, eh?
yeah, but in reality he was a cop. not just anybody with a gun license...
ReplyDeleteWithout getting into an entire discussion about gun control, most statistics show that in areas of crime, both police and civilian gun owners have a very positive effect on reducing crime by carrying weapons.
ReplyDeleteMost of the statistics about legal guns being dangerous come from suicides.
The reason that you (as many of us) are cynical regarding "hashgocho pratis" stories in frum publications is because of the tone (as ezzie wrote) but also because of their interpreting the story to prove their particular hashkafah.
ReplyDeleteEven though we all believe that everything that happens in this world is guided by Hashem it doesn't necessarily mean that we can interpret it as we see/want/wish.
For example, just because you met your "bashert" on a bus going to kever Yonatan ben Uziel doesn't mean that a) every single guy/girl should go there to find a shidduch, b) that the marriage will always happy and blissful c) that someone that met their spouse in a disco in Tel Aviv can't have a happy marriage (or at least can't write a "hashgocho pratis" story for the Hamodia) or d) that because of all these hashgacha pratis stories about kever Yonatan ben Uziel and because everyone believes in them – that's the best place to find a lot of single frum girls .
See you previous post about the near misses of the ElAl plane. We all believe that any near miss is guided by Hashem – but do we then assume (or have proof) that ElAl should keep Shabbos? Doesn't have to keep Shabbos? Or just that the whole Chareidi boycott of ElAl had nothing to do with Shabbos?
And regarding the Utah shooting, I'm sure "he was there for a reason", to kill the shooter and save lives, but also all those other people that he did kill were also there in the mall that day for a reason.