We had a pleasant and quiet Thanksgiving, if you don't count the slaughter down the street.

It was horrifying to realize that, as we were collapsed in our living room, recovering from our turkey-and-pumpkin-pie binge, an entire family was being wiped out nearby. We watched the many emergency vehicles racing down the street, and assumed there'd been a bad car accident. I'm a little surprised we didn't hear the rifle shots, but even if we had, we would have paid scant attention. This is a rural community--somebody's always shooting at something here.

May God have mercy on the souls of this family, and on their relatives, who must be in agony.

Comments

[Lee]

Reminds me of that sarcastic version of "Silent Night" that Simon and Garfunkel did a generation ago, where the song was playing as background music to an evening news broadcast of the usual local and national mayhem and bloodshed.

But on the other hand, without Jesus the whole idea of domestic tranquility would be absurd. At least, that's how I read Mr. Colson's earlier books, where he talked about places like Romania and Poland, before the fall of Communism and dictatorships.

So in a sense, Anne, I'm glad you live in a nation where you can still be shocked by such things. But I do pray for the surviving relatives. And I'm sorry this had to come so near to you.