Agony

That Little Voice

How do we comprehend and react to the horrors of terrorist attacks, the senselessness of lives brutally taken, the devastation of families, and the destruction of cities?

What gaping hole in a person’s soul can be filled by slaughtering babies, murdering randomly, instilling fear, and causing heartbreak?

What creates the hatred, meanness, and loathing erupting in many parts of the world?

I’m not equipped to understand or find answers to these mind-numbing questions. All I can do is ache for those targeted, and the ones inadvertently caught in the drama of the unexplained dreadfulness.

My stomach convulses, my mind shuts down, my eyes avoid the grim pictures, my arms ache to hold someone, my legs move in retreat, my ears close to the cries and pleas of innocents.

Will they survive this awfulness? Will I sit dormant attempting to understand the abhorrence?

Is the only answer more violence? Will that bring an end to this insanity? How do we cope with the reality of such inhumanness?

Can we end the pain, suffering, strife, and hate engulfing us, and replace it with peace, serenity, love, and forgiveness?

I will persist in my struggle to comfort those hurting, to overcome hatred, to offer assistance, and to eliminate bitterness, fear, and violence from my battered soul.

May kindness override torture, compassion replace hatred, and understanding lead to acceptance of each other.

These empty children’s swings brought the agony of this week’s tragic violence into focus at the costly losses and pain wrought by the ongoing terrorist attacks against Israel.