Killing others make no sense to me...heal the wounds

On Saturday June 11,  2016 a man went into a nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Using a firearm he'd recently purchased, he began firing into a crowd of over 300 people.
Forty-nine people died. And another fifty-three were injured.

The nightclub was filled with people...many gay people.
Whether the people were gay or not shouldn't matter; but being gay is still unacceptable in many peoples minds.
Apparently the shooter has a prejudice against gay people which explains one reason the nightclub was targeted.

I find this event sad, yet understandable.The world has been changing. Fast.
People and cultures as a whole tend to resist change.
We humans prefer things to stay the same as long as it doesn't interfere with our personal agenda.

People in the world are beginning to wake up to the fact that being gay or transgender isn't a choice...it is simply who they are...Gays are simply the way God made them.
Everyone who was injured or died was somebody's child...a son...a daughter...a brother or a sister...perhaps even a mother or father.

I don't know how to end this posting in a way that makes sense of the carnage.
It doesn't make sense to me.
I don't know if it ever will make sense.

But please remember to pray for the families of the wounded.
Celebrate the lives of those whose lives were too short.

And...please be kind...patient...avoid despair and anger.
Be especially kind to the gunman's family who have been left behind to deal with his incredibly horrific deeds.
His children, wife and parents need our prayers to get through this ordeal too.
Your help is needed to heal the wounds created that day.
Be kind. Have courage. Love one another.

Long Life

Yesterday, I was reading a popular magazine that just arrived in the day's mail. The article was about a Marine chaplain who basically said (I’m paraphrasing here), you have a beginning date and an end date on your gravestone. Between those two dates is a dash. That dash is your life.

My first thought was “I want an em-dash life.”

For those of you not familiar with an ‘em dash’, it is a typesetting term. It is a very long dash. You’ve probably seen it in older books and magazines which were typeset by people who cared about such things.

I want a long life one with plenty of time to live, love and learn. A fulfilling life…a full-spectrum life of highs and lows; of happiness and grief; of light and shadows. Excitement loses it’s allure if not offset by calmness.

Without all of the above, the painting of my life would lack balance.

Isn’t that what we’re here for…to create balance in the mural of life!

I wish you all an em-dash life!