A Moment To Pause, To Pray, And To Ponder...

How can one possibly translate into words the overwhelming feeling in response to the murders on the Virginia Tech. campus? I have personally been stunned and numbed by the news coverage of this tragic event.



I, like millions of others around the world, have been forced to once again confront those deep feelings of sadness and grief as I have watched news reporters disclose details and interviews with students who are giving an account of what has occurred again on our soil...violence.




I have been watching the faces of these children (because contrary to their beliefs, they ARE only children in their late teens and early twenties) as they try to make sense out of something so senseless...something they, nor I, will ever understand. As camera after camera is shoved into their faces, I have watched them mourn, grieve, show fear, anger and resentments, and also witnessed many who appear in shock and disbelief. I cry for these children...




I shed tears for these children, knowing that they are growing up in a violent world...knowing they no longer feel safe. And that is assuming they DID feel some degree of safety prior to this horrific event. I shed tears because, even though they are not my birth children, they are STILL my children...a simple responsibility one must assume as part of living in a larger community. These children ARE my children...they are YOUR children, too.




Mother Teresa once said, "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten we belong to each other". Perhaps this is also the basic and fundamental problem in our society today...we have forgotten our roles and our responsibilities. Perhaps this is why violence is so easily committed among one another...we have forgotten this simple "belonging".



I hope we can all take time out of our busy schedules this week to REMEMBER...to remember we belong to each other...to remember these frightened children in our thoughts and our prayers...to simply open up our hearts and "remember" what we know to be innately true...we are ALL connected and ALL responsible for one another...lest we forget all too easily this horrible tragedy of senseless murders and acts of violence committed upon our children...