No Answers

December 17, 2012 Off By Lisa

I just finished reading today’s news…not that I don’t already know what’s going on. The faces of the Sandy Hook victims on my screen actually startled me and brought instant tears to my eyes.

But we refused to turn on the television or boot up the Internet with our daughter anywhere close enough to absorb one horrible word of what she might see. She is far too perceptive, far too inquisitive, to think that any of it will escape her notice. And so we have chosen to sequester her, to shield her from this evil.

My heart is broken for these people. My daughter is younger than those children, but it’s too close for comfort. I can not even begin to think about that.  Today at Mass, our Kindergarten kids were on the altar with our pastor for a special Advent homily and presentation. The joy in their little faces was healing and comforting…and at the same time devastatingly bittersweet and painful to behold.

As we’ve spent the day pretending all is well with the world and preparing for the week to begin, I found fear rising inside me. I want to lock my doors and windows and keep my child home with me. Forever. I do not want to set one foot in my own school. Ever again.

But that is not realistic. And I do not believe that is what we are meant to do. If we do that, evil wins. And I don’t know about anyone else, but there is no way on this earth that I believe evil has the right to win.

God wins. Love wins. Strength and courage in the face of evil wins.

But evil does not win.