Sue Klebold is the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the youth who committed murder/suicide in Cobumbine on April 20, 1999. In this transparent reflection, Sue shares, "It was appallingly easy for a 17-year-old boy to buy guns both legally and illegally without my permission or knowledge and somehow, 17 years and many school shootings later, it is still appallingly easy.”
Scarlett Lewis, who’s son Jesse was killed in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Connecticut in 2012, has chosen forgiveness over hatred. In her powerful testimony she says forgiving his killer cut the invisible cord of anger that linked her to him after her son’s death.
Thank you to Daniel Lefebvre, who shared this post.
I love spending Saturday mornings with a cup of tea listening to the radio. That's how I heard an excellent program on CBC called Day 6 recently. In 30 minutes it covered diverse aspects of peace, from a journalist sharing how to distill the real versus propoganda in the siege of Aleppo, to a mother leaving a gang to give her unborn child a better life, to ways Chicago mirrors a war zone, with over 4,000 gunshot wounds resulting in over 700 deaths in 2016 alone.
I love the writings of Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who lived in America during the post-nuclear cold war. He wrote prolifically on topics including personal sanctity, nature’s praise of God (of which humans contribute the most conscious, but no means solo, voices), and the responsibility of all people of peace, and faith, to protect the earth from war.
I love the writings of Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who lived in America during the post-nuclear cold war. He wrote prolifically on topics including personal sanctity, nature’s praise of God (of which humans contribute the most conscious, but no means solo, voices), and the responsibility of all people of peace, and faith, to protect the earth from war.
I’ve been involved in communications for development for many years, and have heard many inspiring stories, but so far, this one has touched me most. I was listening to Podcast Playlist on CBC Radio, a weekly show that curates great podcasts from everywhere, and they were playing a podcast about the WMMT radio station in Appalachia, USA.
It all started with a jazz station that evolved into a hip hop show. As it was unusual for the region, a listener sent a letter of appreciation to the DJ. It was from an inmate in prison.
I work with a global team of colleagues at World Vision International. One of them is John Locke from California. Like many of our staff, John works with people from around the world, often spanning 12 hour time zones in long days of meetings and deadlines. To destress after a busy day, he goes to the martial arts studio to exercise body and mind. John attributes meditation for reducing "three layers of tension."
One month ago, Michael Brown was shot dead in Ferguson, Missouri. That an unarmed black teenager was killed by a police officer charged to keep the peace is a tragedy. That tanks and tear gas were used to quell protests against the shooting in the democratic United States of America is a travesty.
We've heard a lot in the news recently about the unaccompanied migrant children from Latin America, who feel so threatened by gangs and violence at home that they make the treacherous journey to seek safety and asylum in the United States. The conditions that these children face at home is tragic; no one, let alone children, should face such day-to-day violence that they feel safer fleeing from home and country alone than staying with their families.
