A man on a motorcycle approached a Jewish school in France, took out two weapons and began firing on those waiting to enter the sch0ol. He then went inside, killed a rabbi and his two sons as well as another child. The man on the motorcycle then sped away. Last week a man on a motorcycle killed two French paratroopers and sped away. No one knows if there is a connection between these two events although there appears to be an amazing similarity.
We do not know if the man on the motorcycle is a Muslim or whether he is from the Middle East. In a sense, the man is a symbol of the modern world. He arrives from an unknown place, he kills without making a comment, and his victims are strangers. Many would feel a sense of comfort if we knew the man and knew why he killed. But, death in the modern world is all too often committed by those who do not know their victims. Their victims are members of some hated group which provides justification for the murderer to kill the innocent.
Children die, a man of religion dies, and we have no idea why. Ironically, the murderer accomplishes nothing other than death of the innocent. Such is the human condition in the 21st century.
