The last couple of weeks have been full of sorrow and tragedies, both close to home and far away. A dear friend lost her battle with cancer; a friend's grandmother passed away; my neighbor's friend committed suicide leaving behind his wife and young children. Then Friday we saw the horrible attacks in Norway leaving over 90 people dead and several wounded, and Saturday we see yet another young artist gone much too soon. And that is not counting the bad news of crimes in our community. I struggle with finding peace in all of this, but then it helps to write to clear my mind.
Even though losing someone to illness, or having a grandparent, who has lived a full life pass on, is tough and very sad no matter how much it may be expected, it is still part of life. We can go through a grieving process and in the end, live on while cherishing the memories of the person who is no longer with us.
Losing someone to suicide is quite different. When I was younger, I used to think that taking your own life was such a selfish act. Obviously because I always felt I had so much to live for, and still do. Although I complain over trivial things, and life is not always what I wish for, I still love life. Therefore, I find it is so sad that someone cannot find a reason to live, even when they have a spouse and children, but it would be wrong to label suicide a selfish act. I cannot imagine the despair one must feel when choosing to end ones own life becomes the only option.
Reading about Amy Winehouse's death, was sad, but I think for many, not unexpected. We have seen many more news stories related to her drug and alcohol use than about her music. However, she joins a long line of artists whose lives have ended much to early because of drugs. It makes me wonder if we as fans, demand so much of these artists, that fame is too much to handle. It certainly has made me believe that if presented with the choice, I would much rather be rich than famous.
Mass murder and terrorist attacks fall in to a whole other dimension. We've certainly seen too many of them here with school shootings, attacks on government buildings, and of course the 9/11 attacks. School shootings seem to have spread around the world taking young victims in schools not only in the U.S., but also in Scotland, Yemen, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Argentina and Finland. That is most certainly a list I hope will not grow longer.
Countries around the globe have been victim of terrorism; in my book, the most senseless violence. Terrorism is commonly defined as violent acts which are intended to create fear, are perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal, and deliberately target or disregard the safety of civilians. When searching for a listing of recent attacks, Wikipedia shows one listing from 1800-1899 and one from 1900-1969 both having a complete listing of events on a fairly short page. However, from 1970 - present, there is one page per year of terrorist attacks, and the list just seem to continue growing. What happened? Did the world just go mad?
I cannot imagine the grief and pain families who lost loved ones in such attacks must feel, and I pray I never will. We see it in Norway now, as we did here both in 2001, and many times over as children were killed in school shootings. To have a family member or friend lose their life for an evil minded person or group to prove a point is beyond senseless, and I find it hard to hold on to my belief that there is a meaning with everything, and God has a plan for each of us. The question always pops up; then why did he not save these people? A question that remains unanswered.
The only thing I hope we don't see, is that we let hate foster hate, and seek revenge in order to move on. To quote Mahatma Ghandi, "there is no road to peace, peace is the road", and hopefully that is the road we choose. But the most powerful thing I heard this weekend, was from one of the survivors of the shooting at the youth camp in Norway who in an interview with CNN stated, "if one man can create so much hatred, just imagine how much love we can create together". With that in mind, I hope we never give in to the fear, but rather fight for peace in our own country and communities, and support those around the world that have a much tougher fight than we do.
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| Photo by Marcus74id/FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
Countries around the globe have been victim of terrorism; in my book, the most senseless violence. Terrorism is commonly defined as violent acts which are intended to create fear, are perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal, and deliberately target or disregard the safety of civilians. When searching for a listing of recent attacks, Wikipedia shows one listing from 1800-1899 and one from 1900-1969 both having a complete listing of events on a fairly short page. However, from 1970 - present, there is one page per year of terrorist attacks, and the list just seem to continue growing. What happened? Did the world just go mad?
I cannot imagine the grief and pain families who lost loved ones in such attacks must feel, and I pray I never will. We see it in Norway now, as we did here both in 2001, and many times over as children were killed in school shootings. To have a family member or friend lose their life for an evil minded person or group to prove a point is beyond senseless, and I find it hard to hold on to my belief that there is a meaning with everything, and God has a plan for each of us. The question always pops up; then why did he not save these people? A question that remains unanswered.
The only thing I hope we don't see, is that we let hate foster hate, and seek revenge in order to move on. To quote Mahatma Ghandi, "there is no road to peace, peace is the road", and hopefully that is the road we choose. But the most powerful thing I heard this weekend, was from one of the survivors of the shooting at the youth camp in Norway who in an interview with CNN stated, "if one man can create so much hatred, just imagine how much love we can create together". With that in mind, I hope we never give in to the fear, but rather fight for peace in our own country and communities, and support those around the world that have a much tougher fight than we do.
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