Another Life Lesson

Last night as I was winding down--blogging, writing emails, and planning an upcoming party, I turned to our local online newspaper for my final reading for the night. I guess I will NEVER do this again, as my night ended with reading the most harrowing & heart-wrenching story. You've heard of the two-year-old who was saved during the terrorist attack in Mumbai, right? When I clicked on the latest update on the story, it showed a picture of the boy crying in the arms of a man. The article went on to describe in detail the Nanny's account of the attack that killed the mother and father (the rabbi and his wife). When the boy was found he was at the bodies of his parents, soaked up to his knees in blood, crying. Immediately upon reading this, I held my face and began to cry. The tears came down, and I found myself trying to control the sadness that had taken over my body.

So why do I tell you this? I tell you this because I realized after that moment of sadness that normally I wouldn't react this way. Because of this, there is something enormous to be said about how desensitized, on a human level, we've become to the violence and terror that our world is enduring. The fact that 99% of the time that I read such stories, (which I do often, because I read a lot,) and that I hardly flinch and then move on, is a critical issue. The issue of one becoming desensitized has been compounding and plaguing our country for decades and decades, and is an issue that is sure to continue.

As I said, the reaction of mine during this reading is sadly out of character. This leads me to my next concern: how will our children feel, or will they feel at all? Will they understand or see the world without the violence, or is it so gravely attached to the understanding of what world means? How can a child, who is known for his or her fresh innocence and whose immediate response is to speak truth, have a chance or one at all when most everything surrounding him or her is polluted and ravaged with violence and sadness? It's hardly seems fair to me that this makes up a huge portion of the world that we bring our babies into?

Although these thoughts run rampant inside me, gratefully I have my faith to turn to, and I am comforted to know that there is a plan in all this. Although there are no answers or promises for tomorrow, there is reason, and it is His reason. Having that faith and to be sure enough that the worries for today are not for tomorrow, but are for Him to address in the right timing, is key thought-process for me. I will never understand all this or begin to understand how I should react or how to exactly address these issues with my children. I just know that tough times lay ahead, and the world will continue to unravel and there will be many more trying times and people who will endure such times. The most I can confirm for myself is that I will do the very best I can to do, for my family and my children, today, so that tomorrow might be better.

I realize that recanting this to you, will do no more for you than what it did for me. It is both tragic and disturbing. I wrote this because I was touched, and it's moments like these that are pivotal in the growth of my spirit, and are important moments for me to reflect on. God is always trying to teach us.