Friday, October 06, 2006

Tragedy can teach, inspire

UPDATED UNDER "OTHER BUSINESS" AT THE BOTTOM (10/27/06)

In the face of tragedy, we often learn from and can hope to emulate the courage of victims.

Case in point comes from the evil that befell an Amish community in Pennsylvania.



The oldest of the five Amish girls (Marian Fisher, 13) shot dead in a Pennsylvania schoolhouse is said to have stepped forward and asked her killer to "Shoot me first," in an apparent effort to buy time for her schoolmates. . . .
What's more, Fisher's 11-year-old sister, Barbie, who survived the shooting, allegedly asked the gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, to "Shoot me second," (a midwife who delivered two of the victims Rita) Rhoads said.

As Rhoads later is quoted in that ABC News article, "How many adults are willing to do that? Not many."

There are some tragedies that just can't be prevented -- without putting bars and locks on all buildings. That still doesn't diminish the pain the families and community must be feeling.

But, for the rest of us, other than praying and/or wishing well for them, the best we can do is learn from and look to borrow at least some of the courage that the Fisher girls showed us all.

Other business
On an unrelated note, it is amazing what a link from such a high-traffic blog like StopSexPredators.blogspot.com can do. Both this site and my PR site have received 50-70+ and 40-50+ visits, respectively, the past couple days from the brief mention there. When I sent the e-mail regarding my post about a list of child sex offenders, I didn't intend for the author to mention my blog -- but to include the links I noted for others to find.

So, thanks for the pointer . . . whoever you are.

UPDATE: Well, while we don't know yet who you are, but we know where you worked and where you're from and the scandal behind the stopsexpredators.blogspot.com blog. You are a putz. For more, check out Technorati for references to that fake blog.


-- Michael

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