Ours

This past Friday, my internet connection was lost. It was lost because a certain bill went unpaid due to a forgotten password. The password wasn't retrievable because it was listed in connection with an old, non-working email. Sometimes money is groovy though, and now, everything is cool. No, not everything.

On a beautiful summer day in 1994, Sam Nunn gave a talk to several thousand people. He spoke about a conversation that he had with a reporter who had been in Yugoslavia. The reporter heard an explosion and then some gunshots at a very close range. Soon after that, a man carrying a young girl approached the reporter.

"Can you help me, sir? My girl is wounded and I need to get her to the hospital." Before the reporter could answer, the man carrying the young girl said, "Please. Just drive my car and take us to the hospital." The reporter followed the man, got in the car, and drove as fast as he could while following the man's directions to the hospital. The young girl didn't survive the trip. The reporter apologized and offered his condolences to the man holding the young girl. With tears in his eyes, the man said, "I have something very hard to do. I must go tell her father."
The reporter responded,
"I thought that you said she was your child?" The man looked down at the lifeless young girl and said,
"They are all ours."

Today, a young man shot and killed seven classmates and a principal in a school in Finland. Youth is for living; not dying, not killing. My sad heart is with the families, friends, community and especially the parents of those young lives. I hope and pray for strength, healing, and love. A young life close to my heart was lost several years ago. The healing will take some time. There will always be a very tender place in their hearts and minds and also in ours.