Wednesday; March 20

Today is a somber day for our community.  One year ago, we experienced a fatal school shooting.  While our experience may not have risen to the level of others, it did have an impact on us.  As I reflect on our first anniversary, a few things come to mind:
1).  There may be people in our community who are struggling, but we may never know it.  How often have you heard someone comment following a tragedy, “I would have never expected them to do anything like that!”?  We will never know everything in everyone’s mind, but let’s make it a point to check in on people we know might be struggling.  We might be able to make a big difference by a simple show of concern.
2).  Violence can produce “collateral damage”.  Just because we are not directly involved in explosive situations doesn’t mean that we are safe.  With this in mind, we should ALL be working together to make our communities safer places to live.  Public safety is not just a concern for politicians, law enforcement, school and the judicial system – it requires all of us to be active participants because any one of us could find ourselves in harm’s away.  The life we save by working together to eradicate crime and violence might be that of a loved one – or even our own.
3).  Life isn’t fair.  Yes, this is cliché, but it is also true.  This is a tough reflection because there isn’t much we can do to correct it.  Young people die ... innocent people are hurt ... bad things happen to good people.  If we can learn anything from this observation it is that our goal should not be security in this life, rather in the eternal life to come.  Equity may not be granted on this planet, but the faithful are able to cling to hope in the end.
4).  Life can be short and uncertain.  None of us are promised our “four score” years and even if we were, they might not be filled with peace and tranquility.  All we know for sure is that we have been given the here-and-now to work with.  Are we making the most of today?  
          Think About It!

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