[Comstock1]

Heartbreaking.

[Antoninus]

“I’m afraid,” he said after a pause, “that the future will be just like this.”

Sadly, it may be worse. "Just like this" could be Freehold, NJ, Ann Arbor, MI, or Pasadena, CA if we don't get our acts together.

[badpacifist]

And then, I was driving down Hebron Road, a main drag in our part of town, and I stopped at a red light. It’s been hot this week, so all the cars had their windows closed and the air conditioning on. There was another car in the lane to my left, and one to the right. The newscaster (for who wasn’t tuned to the news?) announced that that Gilad’s parents had written him a letter and had made it public. He then read the text (the translation is mine, but the Hebrew original is posted):

“To our dear, sweet Gilad,

Mommy and Daddy, Yoel and Hadas, are terribly worried about you, want to hear you, and hope that you are healthy and that you feel OK, as well as you can in your circumstances. We hope that you will be able to read these words, and we want you to know that all possible steps are being taken so that you can return home to Hila and the Galilee, as quickly as possible, to your family, and to your room that is waiting for you….

Know that we are thinking of you at every moment, [hoping] that you are somehow managing, and that you will make it through these difficult moments. We know and believe that the people holding you also have families, and will know what it is that we are enduring, and will know how to take care of you and [safeguard] your health.

We love you and send you strength.

Mommy and Daddy”

As the newscaster finished reading the letter, I happened to glanced out the windows of my car. Both drivers to my side, one a man in his fifties and one a woman in her late twenties, were wiping tears from their eyes. The windows didn’t need to be open to know what they’d been hearing.

[agrace]

Very moving. What a great writer he is, bookmarking that site.

I'd say, however, to the kids - no, it won't always be like this - please read Zechariah 14, Ezekiel 34-39, Isaiah 11, Jeremiah 30-31. One day, sooner than later, His feet will come down on the Mount of Olives, wrong will be made right, His servant David will be king in Jerusalem again, and He will be fully reconciled to His people.

Hosea 3:4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

[Just another Joe]

The same type of response we should give when one of our kids/soldiers are taken.

[panthermom]

This whole situation in killing me, ya'll. I am literally glued to the news and FR. The Palestians, Iraq, Iran, Syria, the list goes on and on. At what point will the good conquer the evil? Day in and day out, no outrage. This is not the world I want my children the inherit. The evil must be stamped out, to hell with being PC. It's depressing and frustrating that these terrorist are breathing the same air as me. Banging my head against the wall repeating, You cannot have diplomacy with people that want you DEAD!!!

[bnelson44]

Read it all. But be warned it is really, really sad.

[MaryFromMichigan]

There was something about this that reminded me a joke I heard along time ago about a farmer who just won a million dollars in the lottery.

When asked what he would do with his newfound wealth, he replied,
"Just keep farming till it's all gone I guess."

It was supposed to be a joke, a play on the plight of the family farm.
He knew he would never break even on his farm, let alone get ahead.

But he would use what resources he had to keep it going.

Of course, the challenges the boy faces are of far more consequence than the farmer's, but the feelings of resignation to a immovable and forbidding fate struck me in both.