The situation in Arizona certainly qualifies as tragedy. A disturbed man, a Mr. Jared Lee Loughner, killed six people and injured many others. Among the dead was a nine year old girl, a Miss Christina Taylor Green. It is hard to imagine such hardship; and I cannot. I am lucky to not know personally a victim of any sort of murder, in fact I have not faced any loss so far in my life. Even though I can't fathom their pain, my thoughts go out to both the families of the victims and that of the killer (as they, too, are suffering).
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| Christina Taylor Green |
It saddens me to think that all I have done to console those experiencing such great pain is forgo a minute of my morning. Am I turning my back on a neighbor? We do, after all, live in one country, on one planet. On the other hand, I am hundreds of miles away from Arizona. Personally, I feel that one minute, though it is respectful, is not sufficient. All loss cannot be recognized individually, because then we would have no time to enjoy life! But this, a massacre, deserves it's just dues. Therefore, I keep the victims in my prayers not just this morning, but now as I write this and for the days to come. I won't feel sad, rather thankful for the life I have.
There is no light without dark, no day without night- and this situation is certainly a dark one. That means that the contrasting light will seem that much brighter: enjoy the light of life, and remember that the sun rises every morning.
For more pictures regarding the shooting (not gory), please refer to this NY Times report. Thanks.
Glenna, it was great how you were able to give your condolences to those who are grieving and still make an interesting point about when you believe to recognize loss individually. For your point asking if you are turning your back on your neighbor; the way I think of it is that if I can, in your words, recognize people's losses individually for those people that I reasonably can, then I'd hope that they would recognize as far as they can and so on and so forth. That way each persons sympathy (or whatever you want to call it) is continually being dealt.
ReplyDeleteGlenna,
ReplyDeleteThis is a thoughtful and sensitive post. The only big suggestion I have for you is to ground your ideas in specific text -- written or visual. This might offer readers another avenue of response as well.