Here there were of course two major stories of violence in the last week. With Charlie it was targeted, with Iryna it was mostly random. Both events were eye opening, the one in that people you know but disagree with you might happily murder you or rejoice if someone else does. The other murder a reminder that even when there is no motivation death is always near. We should try to protect those we love, and small things like locking the doors or being cognizant of where we sit on a train aren’t life disrupting and probably make sense. Larger things like continuing to hike or speaking what you believe we need to continue or our meaning for existence is abandoned and we are all lost. Regardless if it gives us what we want right now, prayer is a reminder to be grateful for the time we (and others) do get and the people we have to spend it with.
In addition to those stories, I was also thinking about the children killed at the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minnesota a few weeks ago--another example like Iryna Zarutska's that death is always near. It was that shooting that specifically inspired the title of this essay and its theme. In the aftermath of that killing, I saw a significant number of social media posts from my US friends about prayer being pointless/an excuse to not do something/worse than useless: things like "these kids were praying, and they were still killed....shows you what good prayer is." I think some politicians even made comments to that effect following the Annunciation Catholic School killings. That just seemed so cruel to me: here are people whose children have been killed, and prayer is all they have, and some talking head is saying that that's useless. Then the murder of Sheldon--and the recent rescue of an elderly Saba man who was lost in the wilderness for nearly three days and I think had widely been assumed dead--got me thinking a lot about the community power of prayer. In both cases, community-wide prayers have been an important response.
Thank you for reading and for your thoughtful comment. I appreciate it.
Amen, and so very beautifully said. I am sorry for your community's loss - both for the loss of life, and for the shattered peace which can all-roo-easily be taken for granted when one lives in a relatively safe and decent place.
I can do nothing to make it better, but I can add my prayers for you all. May God's grace grant you comfort, guidance, and ultimately a renewal of that state of peace.
Here there were of course two major stories of violence in the last week. With Charlie it was targeted, with Iryna it was mostly random. Both events were eye opening, the one in that people you know but disagree with you might happily murder you or rejoice if someone else does. The other murder a reminder that even when there is no motivation death is always near. We should try to protect those we love, and small things like locking the doors or being cognizant of where we sit on a train aren’t life disrupting and probably make sense. Larger things like continuing to hike or speaking what you believe we need to continue or our meaning for existence is abandoned and we are all lost. Regardless if it gives us what we want right now, prayer is a reminder to be grateful for the time we (and others) do get and the people we have to spend it with.
In addition to those stories, I was also thinking about the children killed at the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minnesota a few weeks ago--another example like Iryna Zarutska's that death is always near. It was that shooting that specifically inspired the title of this essay and its theme. In the aftermath of that killing, I saw a significant number of social media posts from my US friends about prayer being pointless/an excuse to not do something/worse than useless: things like "these kids were praying, and they were still killed....shows you what good prayer is." I think some politicians even made comments to that effect following the Annunciation Catholic School killings. That just seemed so cruel to me: here are people whose children have been killed, and prayer is all they have, and some talking head is saying that that's useless. Then the murder of Sheldon--and the recent rescue of an elderly Saba man who was lost in the wilderness for nearly three days and I think had widely been assumed dead--got me thinking a lot about the community power of prayer. In both cases, community-wide prayers have been an important response.
Thank you for reading and for your thoughtful comment. I appreciate it.
I am so sorry for your community's loss Doctrix. I'll keep Sheldon and Sheldon's family in my prayers.
Thank you. I'm grateful for your support.
Amen.
Amen, and so very beautifully said. I am sorry for your community's loss - both for the loss of life, and for the shattered peace which can all-roo-easily be taken for granted when one lives in a relatively safe and decent place.
I can do nothing to make it better, but I can add my prayers for you all. May God's grace grant you comfort, guidance, and ultimately a renewal of that state of peace.
Thank you, Julie. I am grateful for your prayers.