When It's Close to Home. . .

I always find it amusing when you see and hear people on the news saying "Things like that don't happen here, it's a quiet community." I find it amusing because it seems that every community says that, yet today I find myself shocked, dismayed repulsed and saying to myself "How could that happen here in our small quiet community?" Yet it has -- the unthinkable.

Children and their mother murdered blocks away from where we live. I wonder at how many countless times have I passed that house, driving to my bank, driving Jessica to school. Have I run into or met this family on my many many excursions for groceries, to rent movies, at the gas station? Did she ever cut my hair, or Gils, or style Jessica's? Did my children go to school with the children here? I wonder also what possible darkness could possess a father to do such a horrendous thing?

Unfortunately in the world these horrible crimes occur, and darkness lingers everywhere, it does not respect community but attacks at will. It does happen daily, children and mothers are victimized all the time and usually because it is the more anonymous cities we don't hear about it and so we feel we can ignore it. Then it happens in your own backyard and you realize that pain and suffering are everywhere. On the street down the road, a few blocks away, perhaps next door or across the street, people are being hurt daily and we need to start paying attention. No matter what anyone says there are signs, maybe small signs but signs none the less; nothing happens in a vacuum. We need to pay attention to these signs no matter what kind of a community we live in. We need to start seeing past what our eyes tell us, and our hearts want to believe. We long to see innocence so we refuse to stop and listen to what is really going on so that we can see the truth and maybe intervene and prevent such crimes before they hit.

Those children had a future, a promise of a tomorrow and now they are gone, they are just memories and we have to take a stand and stop allowing our chidren to be taken away from us before they have a chance to really live.

My prayers are with the extended family of this house, her parents and their grand-parents. My prayers are also with the father "May God have mercy upon you. Something horrible must be tormenting you to lead you to such depravity, cruelty and lack of mercy. I sincerely hope that you can find God for His forgiveness, and mercy is all you can pray for now. He has a special place for children in his heart and so if there is no remorse He will have a special place assigned for you too."