Finally,
there is a face.
She
caught my attention at the restaurant's bar with her funny comments that echoed
my own. Her name was Trudy, I
think. Or Judy. A retired bookseller who overheard my chatter
regarding my nerves in being ill-prepared to teach a class that night. She encouraged me and we shared a few
off-color jokes before she told me she was there alone because her 68 year old
husband was in Boston preparing to run the marathon for the first time
ever. She didn't look old enough to be married to someone that age! "Honey, I'm a walking Beatles song. Lord, you probably have no idea what that means!" Laughing, I gave her my card, asking her to
stay in touch. Her excitement at finding
out I was a writer was contagious for that brief moment. "I envy you so much, a teacher and a writer! What amazing gifts you have to offer!"
I'm of
the mind that every little dot in the universe is pre-connected before we ever
came along.This afternoon I was startled to hear a friend say "Such a shame about the bombings in Boston." Then in skimming my Facebook posts, bits and pieces began to paint a tragic picture. On this Patriots' Day, April 15th, the rockets' red glare came from the blood-spattered bombs bursting in air. As the horror sank in of yet another terroristic tragedy thrust upon us, my thoughts drifted to the woman from the bar, and I thought of her husband.
Finally,
there is a face.


Do I
cheer on those behind the killings?
No. I cry a little inside every
time I think of Brenda Ann Spencer, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, Seung-HuiCho, Laughner, Holmes, Adam Lanza, and all of those lost to us at their hopeless, mind-bent
hands. Senseless? No, I don't believe that. Everything is with reason - how can we learn
otherwise? How do we learn forgiveness,
redemption, even joy without despair?
My
friend Kevin said to me today, as speculation seeped into the media,
"Whoever they are, they are Evil with a capital E." My answer:
"What defines the line between evil and mentally fucked up?"
We don't
yet know if this was an act of terrorism or another somebody clawing their way
into their 15 minutes, but as a society we are breeding these people, in our
nation and in our world with our hate upon hate. Self-righteousness that we could not commit such
acts will only get us as far as a blood-stained bible left on an empty
pew. When was the last time you saw the
face of someone reaching out to you for help?
Or did you turn a blind eye to the freak with the orange hair or the
deranged guy sitting in the back of the room?
The
names come and go briefly in our minds, but I keep a photo of Jared Lee
Laughner on my hard drive, because I never want to forget the gravity of what
the human mind is capable of in times of darkness. I forced myself to watch the footage of the
man with two severed legs being tended to today by emergency workers, because I
need to keep within me the suffering of people outside of me.
I am
desperately hoping that the funny Beatlesque woman who championed what I
do will see this, and that her husband comes home to her safely. Finally, I found the words.
Because
finally, there is a face.
(c)
Kymberlie Ingalls, April 16th, 2013
Thanks for sharing this opinion- I always feel like the only one who isn't wishing a painful death upon all criminals. Glad to know there's not something wrong with me for seeing them as human too.
ReplyDeleteLune, I'm sorry I didn't see your comment before tonight. Thank you for sharing of yourself. No, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you for feeling as you do. =)
DeleteSome in the spiritual arena of thought accept as true that they "must stop" the "gay agenda, whatever that might be. Of course, there are folks who are very obstinate in the GLBT community about certain issues such as gay marriage and they demand to be heard and are vocal on the following stage over this debate. When I read the gentleman's essay arguing that no one is born gay, I certainly understood where he was coming from, as he felt as if the ""gay agenda" had come too far, and so, he is just as adamant about pushing back now.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment, Bryce, but I'm not entirely sure how it applies to this post, so I'm not able to really reply...?
Delete