You may not be aware of it, but in ancient Egypt, if a Pharoah was usurped it was often the case that the new Pharoah would have any references to the deposed Pharoah removed, be it in scrolls or even when carved into stone. It would all have to go and the memory of that individual was eliminated from the history of the nation.
Today we have some conservative religious groups who practice "shunning" for any members of their sect who break with the tennants of their faith and their community. The one shunned is treated as if they don't exist for the rest of the community.
Let me preface the next paragraph by saying I am definitely in favor of treating every person in my life as a person of value. You may know one of my principles of life is that "Everything can be reduced to relationships." You may not know that I equate "being made in the image of God" with the importance of interpersonal relationships. If we treated each other with love and respect (or at least respect) that would remove a lot of the excuses for some of the heinous acts we hear about.
So, here's what I'm thinking. When tradgedies occur like what happened in the school shooting last week, let's commit ourselves as a society to eliminate ANY media attention to the perpetrator of the atrocity. Let's eliminate that individual from the collective memory and pay attention instead to the value and beauty of life. I don't want to hear the name or whatever rationale has been cooked up by distraught (don't get me started on parenting) parents or psychologists looking to make a name for themeselves by tying their wagon to the pain of others. Whoever it is, and for whatever reason it was done, should be noted as a NON-Person. Sure study the causes and hopefully find something beneficial, but eliminate the name and the memory of the individual. Does that sound harsh? Ask the parents of the slain children and see what they think.
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