Dave and I were on a business trip to Arizona in April 1995. Meetings and golf for him, area museums, galleries and shopping for me. Evening cocktail parties and dinners for both of us. A five day work/vacation....and in the middle of it all the news hit about the bombing at Oklahoma City's Federal building. I remember distinctly as I walked through a mall that day, wondering how everything around me seemed to be going on as normal....when life in America was suddenly anything but.
And then came 9/11.....and, as a nation, we learned just how vulnerable we could be.
And then, since 2009, we've had one news story after another about "the largest mass killings" in America. Ten in Samson, Alabama in 2009, 12 in Reno, Nevada in '06. Followed by Aurora, Colorado, Washington DC, Binghamton, New York, Fort Hood, Texas, San Bernadino, California.
And the children and teachers in Newtown, Connecticut.....and 32 souls in Blacksburg, Virginia.
And then came this past Sunday night....with the new horror in Orlando and a new "high" of 50 dead and just about as many more wounded.
So you can send a prayer, or post a supportive message, or attend a vigil or a church service. Once again flags will be at half mast, and leaders will talk about our strength as a people when faced with this meaningless slaughter of innocent individuals.
You can pray for a God to intervene, you can say love will triumph.
Except He/She won't and love can't.
As long as individuals or groups with the will to kill others and the access to weapons they need to do so, this will continue.
I wonder what the head count will be next time.
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