Tragedy
This week there occurred a tragic event that has struck many people and caused shock, and pain, and has injected fear and worry into the community, the nation, and the world. The shooting at Virginia Tech is the worst mass murder on a college campus ever. It will reverberate for many years.
Why? Why did this happen?
There has been much said about mass murder and violence. Books have been written and cases have been studied but there are no easy answers. Some say it is a psychiatric problem, others say it is a problem of society and a symptom of it’s ills. There is no reason. It was senseless. It is my belief that Art can be a comfort in this time of sorrow.
The Creation of Adam.
Michelangelo painted this in the earlier 1500’s on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. His depiction of God reaching down from heaven and instilling life into Adam is a most comforting image. It shows us the mindset of the people of the early church. God is shown as a gentle elder surrounded by cherubs, in a space that seems to be outside the realm of reality, like a rip in the fabric of space and time. This convey a sense of purpose for the man Adam.
Although I am not a religious man, this painting, technically a fresco gives me a sense of calm, knowing that this painter created a great work of Art that has survived for centuries and has astonished people down through the ages. Michelangelo surely worked despite tragedy in his life at his time in society.
Do not despair. Life is full of senseless tragedy, but if we can learn to channel that fury, that anger at an unknowable universe, into Art and creation, this could be a much different world.
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