Our Broken, Hurting World

Tragedy after tragedy after tragedy. That is all I hear on the news.

What is going on? Watching the news this evening, they moved from one thing to another, as if it were no big deal. No progress on the shooter at a Lane Bryant store, where five people were killed "execution style" and the shooter is still unidentified. Then to the shooting at a city council meeting in Kirkwood, Missouri in which five people were killed before the shooter was gunned down (and killed) by police. Then to Louisiana, where it again wasn't even the headline that someone shot and killed two people before killing themself at a Technical college in Louisiana. Then to Georgia, where there was an explosion that killed 4 people, with 4 others still missing.

Is it always like this? Is this what our world- the very communities we live in- have become? Maybe it is. But does it have to be? What can we be doing- what have we been doing- that has made it become this way, most people don't even bat an eye. There was a shooting at a college today!!!! and no one even noticed or flinched!!! I can't even find the story on some of the main news websites! (It was here on CNN... but should I have to LOOK for such stories?!?)

Perhaps I am feeling a bit over-emotional about such things in light of more tragedies striking at home. There was ANOTHER fatal car accident. That's so many in the past 6 months I've seriously lost track! I still think about JJ and the Nelson family almost daily, knowing (via FB status updates and lots of pictures) that JJ is struggling so much with Alex's death. :(. That one hit close to home... this time, I don't think I know the boys involved, but there were three, all pronounced "dead on arrival." 18, 19, 20 years old. It was late, only the driver was wearing a seatbelt... of course everyone's first question is "were they drinking?" but no one knows yet... they went of the road and hit a tree, but the roads were icy so it is quite possible they (or at least the driver) were not. Regardless, 3 more lives were tragically lost early this morning, and again my very small town is mourning the lost lives of young people who still had so much to offer. Even from afar, even not knowing the boys, its hard. Its hard because in the days to come, I know I will feel I "need" to be home, to support those in the community I do love. Because even if I wasn't close to the boys, I know people I am close to and love were. As I wrote before in my post "Life and Death in a Small Town", thats whats great- and terrible- about living in a small town.

I'm thinking and praying and seeking a deeper kind of rest on this cold winter evening. May everyone be safe and warm and find time to be thankful for the blessed lives we lead, and for the blessing of the lives who share our lives with us.