We all need to pray for the families of those who died. A word of encouragement to the victims’ families — as the terrorists killed and wounded so many, I am convinced that everyone who died in the tragedy was immediately welcomed into the arms of Jesus. Yesterday I was thinking about all the terrible news from Paris and looked out my window. I saw an incredibly beautiful rainbow spanning the Catskill mountains right down to the valley where I live. This reminded me of God’s words in Genesis 9:16: “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” This gave me hope and I want to pass on this hope to you.
Johann Christoph Arnold, senior pastor, Bruderhof, Rifton
Do I
Do I disdain the illegal immigrant
Do I resent the new refugees
Do I anger at the old lady holding up the line
as she struggles for the coins in her purse
Do I shudder at the sight of the unwashed beggar
Do I hurry past the hooded teen walking down the street
Do I warm at the memories gifted by a parent
Do I rejoice at the newborn member of the family
Or
Do I see a unique, unearthed person
in the encounter of a stranger
Do I stop, reflect, and rejoice in the splendor of each and every person
born with a soul bound in love waiting for the gift of accept
It is my choice of reward or neglect
Paul Jankiewicz, Ph.D., Ulster Park
This could be the night
Two months ago, I had the privilege of attending Mass with Pope Francis at Madison Square Garden. Upon my return the editor of the local Kingston weekly newspaper Dan Barton was gracious enough to give me enough space to describe the event in the following week’s publication, and my experience of that day along with a few photos. Ironically the recent ISIS attacks in France on Friday the 13th are cause for reflection on that papal visit.
Along with a chronology of the events of the day, were two comments that I included in the story about security in and around MSG. The first was FDNY gearing up with all their equipment shortly before the pope arrived. I happened to get a picture through the glass window as well as the crowds that were still gathering in line to go through security. It was evident to me as I detailed that, “This was no dress rehearsal.”
The second was at the end of the service when the mass exodus of 20,000-plus people occurred onto Seventh Avenue. and standing there were Homeland Security personnel with M-16s. I described it as the “largest security detail in history, ironically for a man of peace.”
How similar the situations. Although we were probably relatively safe inside MSG, at one point or another 20,000-plus people were waiting in line in the afternoon to enter, or mass-exiting into the night when it was over crowding the streets in and around MSG. At either time someone could have emerged from a building or just simply wandered into the crowded streets and create or be themselves a weapon of mass destruction and chaos. As I sat in the football stadium this past Saturday, with guards with M-16s roving the crowd, the first since the aftermath of 9/11, I looked out at the thousands still waiting in line to go through the metal detectors, all crowded in lines together. Draw your own conclusions.
Back in the 1960s and 70s when the war was on fire and “the Bronx was burning,” over the door of the busiest Fire Station in NYC at the time, with over 50 calls/runs per day, Engine 82/Ladder 31 on Intervale Avenue in the South Bronx, also known as “La Casa Grande” or “The Big House,” was a sign with a constant reminding premonition. Today the war has changed stages from the inner city’s fires of a previous era, to the global war on terror. The enemy today is ISIS, Taliban, Al-Qaeda and all others that are out to destroy our way of life. However that sign’s dire prediction of the ’60s and ’70s is perhaps as Gen. George Patton believed, that history once again is repeating itself. The sign then and now reads and continues to resonate and echo a fatalistic reminder and warning, that regardless of the era or enemy, of the ultimate doom, death, and destruction that could happen at any hour of the day or night. The sign reads: “THIS COULD BE THE NIGHT!”
Bruce McLean
Kingston
I too ache and cringe at what is going on in Paris, Brussels and hwho-knows-how-many other places to come. I have come across an (I think) excellent article which explains ISIS painfully well; it is a religious caliphate that wants to bulldoze Islam back to about the 7th or 8th century and take the rest of the world with it.
Two points: this is neither and right nor left screed, nor do I think it to be overtly political; I found it to be well-balanced and very frightening. Also, it’s long and well-researched, in my opinion – and once you read it, you can’t un-read it, as the current saying goes.
With that in mind, plus sadness, some fear, and significant defiance in my heart – and with hopes of deeper understanding, here’s the link:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/03/what-isis-really-wants/384980/