Saturday, December 15, 2012

Mourning

by
Scott D. Parker

I was going to write about my recent first-read of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist and how, in a 175-year-old book, there are no spoilers. I was going to write how I enjoyed seeing how famous characters like Fagin and the Artful Dodger--characters so famous that they have left the pages of their book and entered into popular culture--first appeared to the world. And I was going to write how I knew about one of the most tragic incidents in the novel--the one involving Nancy--and the knowing made her scenes more tension filled. I was going to, in short, write about reading a classic book.

But I'm not going to do that today. Today, I, like millions in our country and around the world, I'm thinking of 28 lives lost. I'm thinking of the 20 children gone--and in the Christmas season, no less!--and the young ones who have had their innocence ripped away. As a parent myself, the anguish of the parents who lost their children is unfathomable.

Words fail when faced with such a hollow tragedy. When words fail, I fall back on faith. Faith and prayer. Sometimes, the brain doesn't think that's enough. The heart knows differently, even a heart that's broken and crying and hurting for all of us.

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