08/09/2004 Shooting At Home Kills Husband, Injures Wife
Officials: Shooting Was Apparent Murder-Suicide (From Click-2 news in Houston)
This could have been reported from any city in the US yesterday, except yesterday it was reported from Katy, Texas, just a few houses down from friends of mine. I shared with others yesterday that I could not read this without bursting into tears at the sheer madness that surrounds us. Reading this story was almost surreal for me, so much so that it reminded me of the movie Matrix. If you have not seen The Matrix it begins with Neo (the hero) being offered a choice of the red pill (reality) or the blue pill (The illusion of the computer generated “Matrix”). Neo takes the red pill and we are then shocked, along with Neo, when we first realize the enormous extent of the pseudo-reality he is trapped in. In this case the illusions run deep, and they are sold to billions of humans at every level of detail in the Matrix. Every aspect of Neo’s world constantly upholds the lie: from night to day, from birth to death, from atoms to stars. Morpheus the, sage mentor, tells Neo, “It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.†But for the Matrix slaves, it is more than just a trick of perception: the lie is their reality. The prison is real, not merely a dream. But even within a prison of lies, truth can still be found. Before giving him a choice to unplug, Morpheus confirms Neo’s sleep-disturbing suspicions, his nagging certainty that something is wrong with the world. Sitting in my soft theater chair watching this movie I remember thinking, yes, he’s right, something, indeed, is not right with the world.
Which leads me back to the shattering murder-suicide news above. Something is not right with the world. We all feel it and then we pretend that we don’t or that we don’t have time or we take comfort in knowing that at least it’s “out there” and away from us. One of the comments that I heard yesterday on this murder suicide was - ‘… but it’s such a perfect little neighborhood”. Yep, a perfect little neighborhood with perfect little cars and perfect little lawns with a dead father, a critically wounded mother and children whose “reality” has been shattered and just like that the illusion is lifted. Much of my mission as a Coach is to connect with people and to listen like people’s lives depend on it. I did not know this couple but I can’t help but wonder whether we could have heard their pain? The world that we live in does not easily reveal the whole truth and our illusions run deep. Each day, we are offered the same choice as Neo in the Matrix movie, the red pill (God’s word) or the blue pill (the “Matrix” of our so called reality). Either way, as Jesus made very clear, we can not serve two masters.
Relationships are not everything they are the only thing and they are our only real legacy on this planet. Whether it be conscious or not, you and I and everyone of us choose, every day, to make a difference, good or bad.
There is a line in the second Matrix movie: ” …. What matters is the connection the word (love) implies”.
Luke 10:27
He answered: ” Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind ; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.”
So, how are your connections? Like the character Cypher in the Matrix movie, many of us prefer the cozy illusion of the “Matrix” over God’s reality and we pretend that what happens “out there” does not affect us. It is a lie. So, after you’ve hugged your mom and dad and kids and husband or wife go ask your neighbor how they’re doing and listen like their life depends on it because it just might.