Last night a story popped up on the internet about an American journalist who was beheaded in the middle east. There was a video of the beheading and a message from both the victim and the murdered in the video. I happened to see the video early, before the unedited version was taken down, so I witnessed the entire thing from the victim’s message to his actual beheading. 

All I can say about the actual video is that it wasn’t like what we are used to on TV or in the movies. It was heartbreaking to listen to the victim speaking, obviously saying things that were written for him or that he was brainwashed into saying. 

It was confusing to listen to the murderer explaining that the US bombing of Iraq was the rational for the beheading. I guess it made sense to him and his friends. 

2014 has been very violent with war in the middle east, renewed military action by the US in Iraq, Russia doing whatever it’s doing in Ukraine, and suddenly the riots and violence out west surrounding the shooting of a black teenager by a while police office. 

I imagine humans have been killing each other since they first figured out how. Despite people calling for peace and love and getting along, it seems like there’s less of that than ever. 

Watching that video last night I was left wondering how a human hates another so much that they can saw that persons head off and casually set it there without hesitation. How can a human be so far from humane?

Even here in Rochester we see killings on the news on a weekly basis. Most appear to be meaningless, senseless, and otherwise without any reason except that someone decided to kill someone. 

Death has become tiresome. I know it won’t end in my lifetime, and perhaps not until humanity completely destroys itself. 

Watching such senseless brutality has left me wondering where we are headed. To be honest I’m not sure I really want to have that question answered.