Posted on 10/14/2002 4:38:47 PM PDT by KMC1
Dr. Ray Pritchard, Senior Pastor of Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Illinois told the story on Sunday. In between his 3rd and 4th worship services for the morning he stepped out front of the church and had a second to make some small talk with the village's traffic cop helping to keep traffic moving through the congested area near the church.
"Mornin' pastor!" came the greeting from the policeman.
They engaged in a discussion for a few minutes about the day and then came the question.
"So who do you think the sniper is," asked the officer.
Dr. Pritchard said later in the last worship service for the morning, "I found myself instinctively, without really even the ability to control my actions, scanning the landscape around me, looking around as though the sniper could be here..."
Dr. Pritchard is probably not alone. Though I too, live here in the Chicago area, the case of the East Coast sniper has affected me. It has affected everyone. Just go fill up your vehicle and notice if folks don't take an extra second to look around before they begin pumping the gas.
Over the weekend, my co-workers and I were all in New York City participating in an industry related workshop for radio. People had come from across the United States to participate in this particular day. The story of the sniper seemed on the forefront of everyone's mind. Of course this was before the attack on the Bali nightclub, or the second attack on our soldiers in training on an island off the coast of Kuwait.
A friend asked me later in the day on Sunday my thoughts on all of this. Between the jet-lag, and my lack of sleep, I don't think I had a coherent answer. But close to 24 hours later I think I do.
One of the things I have continually read about since the events of 9/11 is the importance of your own personal frame of mind. This is of course the one thing acts of terrorism can try to affect the most easily. Just like the pastor who at the mere mention of the sniper began looking around - out of sheer instinct - we as people in free society have been sensitized to something that prior to 9/11 we were simply not accustomed to.
As I was awakened Monday the talk radio shows were all asking questions of the Bali bombing. I did not realize, till I had a chance to look at the news, that Australia was the nation who perhaps will have lost perhaps 200 or more people in this tragedy. With supposedly a letter of admission from Osama bin Ladin in the hands of the Arab media, the attack on the Kuwait based U.S. troops, the Al Queda linked Indonesia bombing, and the pesky presence of white vans all over the place - we do have a lot reasons to be jittery today.
But I will not be.
There is too much to be done, and too few who are informed enough to do it. Politicians from Chicago to Washington D.C. are still busy - some serving the people, others serving themselves. With elections now just three weeks away, it appears as though turn-out will be the lowest ever. In Illinois the record level of depressed voting numbers may hurt the Republicans so bad that the entire state government could be wrestled away from them. (Hence the huge need for Illinois to elect Joe Birkett as Attorney General)
But there is more than civic duty to do.
There are children to be raised. Even in this world where innocence may be a by-product of the past, never again to be seen, our kids still should have a "haven" where they can innocently be cared for and raised. It needs to be a place where they feel safe, even if the world outside is filled with reasons why life is now different. (I can't help but think of the sniper "copy-cat" that put a pellet in to the belly of a small Virginia boy this weekend.)
There are wives to be cherished. I am convinced whole heartedly that one of the more subtle effects of terror is to continue to cause tensions and stress in the minds of average homes and families. Well, men, be the protector of your home God made you to be, but in that protection, do some dishes, bring home some flowers. Draw her a bath and pour her a glass of wine and allow her to feel as though she can face the news and the events - because you are facing them with her.
So when my friend asks what do I think about the events of terror and how they seem to be lacing the mind of Americans?
I will fight back the only way I know how, I will defiantly raise my head, and with faith in God, I will live my life, for to do otherwise allows all that's wrong to seize victory - and this I will not do!
Without Reservations
Good luck on keeping innocence alive, if you entrust your children to ANY institutional education situation.
The ONLY children who have ANY chance of keeping innocence alive are the homeschoolers, who have moms and dads who are paying the price to raise a generation; and who WILL begin to make a mark very soon.
The ONLY children who have ANY chance of keeping innocence alive are the homeschoolers, who have moms and dads who are paying the price to raise a generation; and who WILL begin to make a mark very soon.How true.
At a local high school here, the school nurse expressed her "concern and fear" that a student-run, Christian Bible study promoted "intolerance" toward gays. Of course, the school nurse is a lesbian and faculty advisor to the student "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning" club. In today's public schools, "tolerance" doesn't mean just tolerating, it means promoting. Mixed up, impressionable 14-15 year olds who are "questioning" their sexuality are being encouraged to engage in perversion. Remember that the next time someone asks a home-schooling parent, "Aren't you concerned about socialization?"
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