Whenever I see evil rise up unexpectedly…I’m reminded how my world is not as peaceful and loving as I would like it to be.
An act of violence so senseless…it cuts through me like a knife…reminding me not only of wickedness…but also the sanctity of life.
The first time I ever felt this was back in 1963…when in school we were told of the death of John. F. Kennedy.
As a 10 year old my young and inexperienced mind needed a bit of clarifying…as to why wherever I looked…all the adults around me were crying.
I was too young to truly comprehend what they were crying for…that somehow, with his death, our world had changed for evermore.
It’s been 58 years since Kennedy’s death…but just the other day…13 soldiers in Afghanistan had their futures blown away.
Is that not the true tragedy of death…for President Kennedy…for those 13 soldiers…and for every victim in between…how they are gone and we are left to wonder…what might have been.
Would they have been great people…would they have lived a happy life…maybe yes…and maybe no…the tragedy of their passing is that we’ll never know.
As we watch more and more lives being lost to evil every day…we realize how more and more…our innocence is chipped away.
With each senseless act of brutality…we become more and more bereft…until we’re left to wonder if we have any innocence left.
If we search we can find a reason for their deaths…find someone we can blame…but that doesn’t change the fact they are gone…and our world will never be the same.
So, today I mourn with the 13 families of the 13 soldiers lost…
I share their sadness at the violent world we are living in…
I mourn the loss of their lives…
and I mourn what might have been.
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