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Thursday, April 18, 2013

I Can't Believe




Today this will be short and sweet, and probably a little depressing... but it's just how I'm feeling right now.


I Can't Believe... That I am raising my children in a world so full of hate and violence. I can't believe that I have been alive to witness so many horrid terrorist attacks here on American soil.

In the aftermath of the original World Trade Center bombing, I sat with my mom and my sister waiting for my dad to call and tell us he was okay. This was before every day Joe's had cell phones, and he never thought to use a pay phone. It was the longest day of our lives until he came home that night.

In 1995, the nation was horrified again as we heard the news of the Oklahoma City bombing. So many lives lost, so many children.

Six years later I sat frozen in front of my television and watched as the Twin Towers fell to the ground, taking my beautiful cousin Christy A. Addamo with them. She was just 28 years old, in the prime of her life. She'll never know the joys of marriage or motherhood... so many places she'll never travel, experiences she'll never have. The sheer volume of lives lost, and still being lost to this day as a direct result. It is unfathomable.

2013. Boston Marathon. Here we are again, transfixed to our televisions, watching the constant coverage of this latest horror. More lives lost, countless individuals injured... It is truly heartbreaking to see, and it seems that we keep seeing it over and over again. It is tragic for all involved, but when I see pictures of little Martin Richard in his communion suit, my heart just aches for him and his family. My little boy will receive his first communion in 3 short weeks. It is just gut wrenching to think that this could happen to any of us, at any time it seems. That could have been my family on that finish line, or yours...

When will it end? When will the light outshine the darkness?

That's it. The only thing I can't believe this week. I can't believe that my children will grow up in this world that seems to be full of so much hate, and that there will be nothing I can do to protect them.  I can teach them to love above all else, to be generous, kind and peaceful, but really... in the end, there is nothing I can do to truly keep them safe - and that scares me to death.




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