Friday, April 19, 2013

Belief can transcend everything

I don't live a long way from West, Texas.
On forays to Waco or Austin, either forward or back, we often stop there.
I've never ventured into town, because you don't, if  you are trying to get from Austin to Fort Worth on a bumper to bumper highway that is only two lanes each side. And we drive, and we grumble, and there's West, unfailingly tasty, with pleasant folks.Unfailingly pleasant, as well.

Then, three days after the Boston Massacre, their whole town blew up. A fertilizer plant in the middle of town blew up and destroyed five blocks of homes. Eleven first responders, most volunteer, are dead. They got the folks out of the collapsing nursing home, and nearby neighbors out, first. Then, too close to the explosion as they tried to help others, they died.

IN the same week, two tragedies, both probably manmade, one with evil intent.
Today I was listening to an expert who said no matter how bad--and it can take years to recover from a tornado or hurricane--we are more resilient when we know our bad fortune is due to misadventure. Mass enmity is a whole other kettle.

When it is a storm, we deal. When another human being wants to harm us, without knowing anything about us,we cringe.

This week, we have two indiscriminate tragedies. Neither could the innocents of life escaped.
In both cases, the question is why? In West, they have pretty much ruled out terrorism. That leaves negligence or Act of God. In Boston, terrorism. Why are some so eager to kill, or allow killing to occur?

I understand neglect. I understand human error or Just Life. But.

What is in your mind to want to kill, or blow the legs off scores of people, some children? People you have never met.

I don't understand. Hope this miscreant lives and tells the authorities something.
Thank God he is alive. And the police in Boston are heroes for oh, 15 minutes. They better eat all the free food they can. The populace will start complaining again soon.

We love our miracles. Ane we want another one NOW.


3 comments:

J.R.Shirley said...

Isn't everything an act of God? Why do we just apply it to disasters?

charlotte g said...

You are very right. This is an insurance term from decades back. A legal term meaning We Can't Find Anyone Else to Blame. Sometimes, I am pretty amazed at how primitive our beliefs still are for so many.
I am inarticulate, but it seems to me so many good things keep happening every day. We so often ignore them.

J.R.Shirley said...

Inarticulate is not a word I'd ever apply to you.