Heartbroken.
This Throwback Thursday will strike a somber note. Historically, April has been a month of outbreaks of violence in the United States. This week’s tragedy at the Boston Marathon has sadly joined an infamous list of April devastation. In the past twenty years, April has juxtaposed the beauty of a blossoming spring with horror in Waco, TX, Littleton, CO, Oklahoma City, OK, and Blacksburg, VA. These locales appear on the maps of our memory and remind us how almost without warning lives can change, get enveloped in chaos, and even be lost.
It is only after years of grief, community support, and hard work do people begin to make their lives “normal” again – to the extent that’s possible – and begin to make sense of seemingly random pain.
This Thursday, we take a moment to pause, and recall how precious and fleeting our lives really are. We remember the lost, and those they have left behind. We remember that April showers can coincide with torrential downpours of grief for those affected by random acts of violence. And we remember that it is through a community’s support that we can bring light and goodness where there was once only loss, violence, and grief.
The Seige at Waco
Local coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing
Eyewitness accounts of the Columbine massacre
Cho Seung-Hui’s video confession
