Peace

I had some travel posts in the works, but this week it seemed wrong to post a about anything lighthearted so soon after the horrible tragedy in Connecticut.

I think anyone who has any connection to children can feel at least an inkling of the pain that the parents and other relatives of the murdered children must feel right now. That there was someone who wasn’t able to feel that empathy – there was someone who was so profoundly broken – defies belief.

Is evil defined through intent or action? I don’t know and I don’t feel qualified to judge when I am only a bystander to this horrible loss, but I think it’s something that we struggle with, as a society; if someone doesn’t have the ability to see right from wrong, or to empathize with others’ pain, does that make them evil by definition, or does it make them broken and sadly lacking in the qualities that make us human? And if they’re broken, how do we help them or at least stop them before the tragedies happen?

I don’t know but I hope that we will take this as a wakeup call that something is wrong and that something has to change in the way we deal with mental illness and violence  in this country.

My heart goes out to the families of Newtown. I wish them, and all of us, peace.