Shakspeares hiding out with Tupac

I was quoting Shakespeare last night and one of the sailing students asked if Shakespeare was dead. The immediate retort from another student was "Nah man, he's hiding out with Tupac". It was a perfect dry cynical reply...I could not help but laugh. This morning was no laughing matter.
I woke up this morning at 6 to a helicopter that sounded as though it was landing in my room. No joke it was literally 250 ft perhaps away. As I looked outside you could not miss the police presence...more than you could count. Weird enough it did not phase me and I tried to go back to sleep (a couple of weeks ago, the police presence would have definitely gotten my attention). I was about half asleep when I heard a noise mixed in with the air conditioner.
This morning at 5 someone took a pot shot at a cop and ran into an apartment about a block away from where I live. At 6:45 the police stormed the place and the two people shooting at the cops were killed. Some cops were also hurt.
This event would have stopped a neighborhood cold back home. Here people are slightly callous about it. Not that is does not effect them but this is frequent here. Shootings happen, and sometimes everyday for a while. When you sit back and think about it, it really strikes you about how messed up this world can be. I do not understand Jersey City enough to make an opinion but I wonder if being callous and making jokes is people way of covering up fear and trying not to think about how broken our world is around us.
There is no such thing as not being affected. When major events and pain happen around us it effects us. How do we cope? I have learned some excellent triggers for various people in my life. If they say something or do something...something is going on. I do not know how people here cope but they have to. The question always is...do we cope in a healthy way or not. That maybe one of the hardest parts of counseling...teaching people to cope in good ways. I think I saw some good and bad this morning.
I coped by actually preaching the gospel to a bunch of middle school children. We had shorten blocks today because we started late because of the shooting, but my 3rd block was cathartic. I talked about being teachable. I compared David and Bathsheba to the story of Naboth's vineyard. When I said that when we choose my way over God's way, there is pain. My way causes pain to me or others. David killed a man, so did Jezebel. I think I connected to them...they know they world is not right and there is a lot of anger and pain. When I said that God's way is not like that...I made them think...and planted some seeds...and spoke through my own emotions from the morning. These are amazing children here, full of life and potential. I do not want to see them choose to become like this person this morning who shot a cop and paid with his life. Amen.