RSS Feed
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
From the porch
We have been inundated with the national news about the Virginia Tech shootings and the murder of 31 students and faculty by a troubled youth who finally ended it all by killing himself. Locally and across the country we are gearing up for the annual Relay for Life, to raise money for cancer patients and cancer research. Terrorists in Iraq and other places are killing people indiscriminately for their "ideals", they claim. Research and fund raising to try to stop killer diseases are ongoing. Life and death are next door neighbors on the pages of the news media and in the everyday lives all around us. An economic summit was held to bolster communication, knowledge and spirits about the economic future in Clay, Graham and Cherokee Counties. The summit was a good,. positive function. However, a local plant has cut out its second shift because of economic troubles. Another plant in the area has reportedly laid off more workers. The good and the bad - While some work to preserve, enhance or save lives, others labor to tear down, tarnish or destroy. It seems that it has always been this way. History shows that good and evil have always worked side by side. Of course, that is too simplistic of an explanation. There are many grays involved. No one is totally evil and no one is totally virtuous. Think about how far reaching the actions of the Virginia Tech killer are. Thirty one people are dead. They all had parents or guardians, children and wives and many relatives and friends. How many people would these 31 people have impacted - positively or negatively if their lives had been allowed to continue? We won't be able to snuff out wickedness. But we can strive to make dents in the immorality that causes one person to desire to harm another. I wish we could have a revival of goodness in this country. The way parents love and teach their children is a key. Teaching of moral character should be emphasized in our educational systems. We should not allow a small minority to bully us into eliminating God from our public consciousness. It is a fact that a large percentage of those who rely on a spiritual program or awareness are happy and well adjusted and do not commit atrocities against their fellow human beings.
While tragedy and violence make big news, I look forward to a time when we can go months without seeing the kinds of headlines that have recently reigned in the forefront of the news media.
|
for larger version      |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
