Sorry the blog has been quiet this week. I’ve been on the road again. Just got back from teaching in Atlanta…playing catch up. Please be patient!
Witnessed my first police chase yesterday on the interstate on the way to the airport. That was scary!
Photos by Eyes for Lies
Pboto byBy Daniela Vladimirova on Flickr
What was the biggest lie you’ve ever told?
Or what was the biggest lie told to you?
This should be interesting if people are honest!
I was reading the news tonight and I saw this photo of Matthew Warren. He was the son of the well known Evangelical pastor Rick Warren. He has sadly committed suicide.
When I saw this photo, I was immediately taken back. Was this photo was given to the media by his family’s church? Credit in the media goes to Saddleback Church. I couldn’t help but wonder who took the photo because Matthew is clearly displaying contempt at the person taking the photo. Contempt is a dislike, a disdain.
Had they known this and were able to verbalize that he felt this way, could the people in his life have dug deeper to find out why he felt the way he did? Perhaps he felt alone and misunderstood. I suspect they didn’t know that this is what this photo demonstrated because if they had, would it made it out to the media?
Perhaps this is a wake up call for all of us to explore when someone feels such a strong emotion towards someone. Why they are feeling it? Can we open up dialogue? Can we help? Can we dig deeper and try to understand? Could it help a person on the brink? Perhaps.
I’m not saying that people didn’t care or probe for Matthew. The church says he had mental issues and suicidal thoughts. They may very well have probed, but it gives you pause when you see this expression to consider it next time someone expresses contempt at you. Why are they feeling this way? Can you help them?
Of course, contempt can have many sources for its expression and many may not be any concern at all and there may be nothing you can do, but next time I see it in someone who is disconnected, it will give me pause. Are they truly okay?
Photo no longer available.
Here is a photo that was recently released in the media of Adam Lanza. The photo comes from his student identification card for Western Connecticut State University. He was only 16 at the time.
What emotion do you see?
Many of you wonder what I think about Sherry West’s story. I am deeply troubled by it on many levels. Clearly, Sherry West is a tortured and troubled soul, and I am suspicious by her behaviors that she has deep emotional problems, and hence mental illness cannot be ruled out. With that, I want to proceed with caution on this: great caution.
I clearly understand why people are flagging this case. I see many, many hotspots in Sherry’s behavior. She has a whine to her voice, she doesn’t shed tears, she has a gun pointed at her and doesn’t believe it is real–even after the prep supposedly shot the the ground beside her, grazed her ear with a bullet and she was shot in the leg and her leg felt “numb”. She tells us she only knew the gun was real when the perp killed her baby. That seems implausibly unrealistic.
I read that the perp shot the baby directly between the eyes. If that is true, how did he get such good aim if she was protecting him?
Sherry doesn’t give us any details about how she tried to protect her baby at all or how she got help. She also refused to give the man her purse despite the fact that he supposedly had a gun and seriously threatened her with it.
It all defies logic.
Sherry also had life insurance on a baby, yet was financially struggling and even complains that having a baby is “expensive” after her baby is killed, which is notable.
I am troubled by the fact Sherry tells her daughter that her brother is dead and then immediately asks when she will get a payout from the insurance.
Sherry also tells us that she is disabled, and that she has already had two cash payouts. That raises my eyebrows.
I do not find Sherry a trustworthy person at all. I would be scared to death of her if I met her on the street, even before any of this happened. She is a person that I would only trust what I could verify with my own eyes regardless of what she says because she is emotionally tortured and all over the board.
I believe the only way to get to the truth in this case, with Sherry’s emotional issues, is to rely on facts and facts alone, and nothing else. I hope that is what is done in this case. I have had my concerns there have been some rushes to judgement.
I’d also like to see the two accused speak out as well. If they do, please point me to the interviews.
