We survive the violence around us, for the most part. Sitting in relative safety in Florida, I watch the news, and the devastation from Boston floods my home and my mind. Each day we tune in, there seems to be a new tragedy. Has the world always been this way, technology bringing it to the forefront? Or is the violence around us building and changing our world?
I cannot begin to imagine the way lives have been ended or permanently altered by the events of yesterday in Boston. The scenes on the television are eerily reminiscent of other terrorist attacks broadcast to the population. Time passes, and we eventually feel safe again. We feel indignant when our civil liberties are infringed upon at airports in the name of safety. But, for a little while, we are engrossed in the terror of the moment enough to allow such infringements without grumbling.
When we are faced with these dangers, we realize the safety we perceive around us may only be a facade. At any moment, we could be amid the images on the television screen. We could be thrust into a nightmarish reality and our lives could be changed in an instant. So we hug our children a little tighter. We dismiss our frustrations with our spouse or our parents or our children. We take time out to spend with our family. Then the pace of our lives catches up with us, and we fall back into our same routines until the next blast hits.
Today, I pray for the victims and their families in Boston. But I also pray for the victims and their families in Connecticut, in New York, in Columbine, in Oklahoma. The pain each person experiences will be a permanent scar, a permanent change in them to be carried throughout their lives. It will dull with time, but it will always be there. Beyond that, I hope the change we experience in reflecting on these events can last in our own lives. The increased gratitude and appreciation for what we do have and the knowledge that our time is not a guarantee can help us each day to show love to those around us--family, friends, neighbors, strangers. Let's refuse to become complacent in the love we show each other. Let's treasure each day as a way to remember and honor those who have been touched by these tragedies.
I cannot begin to imagine the way lives have been ended or permanently altered by the events of yesterday in Boston. The scenes on the television are eerily reminiscent of other terrorist attacks broadcast to the population. Time passes, and we eventually feel safe again. We feel indignant when our civil liberties are infringed upon at airports in the name of safety. But, for a little while, we are engrossed in the terror of the moment enough to allow such infringements without grumbling.
When we are faced with these dangers, we realize the safety we perceive around us may only be a facade. At any moment, we could be amid the images on the television screen. We could be thrust into a nightmarish reality and our lives could be changed in an instant. So we hug our children a little tighter. We dismiss our frustrations with our spouse or our parents or our children. We take time out to spend with our family. Then the pace of our lives catches up with us, and we fall back into our same routines until the next blast hits.
Today, I pray for the victims and their families in Boston. But I also pray for the victims and their families in Connecticut, in New York, in Columbine, in Oklahoma. The pain each person experiences will be a permanent scar, a permanent change in them to be carried throughout their lives. It will dull with time, but it will always be there. Beyond that, I hope the change we experience in reflecting on these events can last in our own lives. The increased gratitude and appreciation for what we do have and the knowledge that our time is not a guarantee can help us each day to show love to those around us--family, friends, neighbors, strangers. Let's refuse to become complacent in the love we show each other. Let's treasure each day as a way to remember and honor those who have been touched by these tragedies.
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