As we followed the coverage of last week’s storm in Chicago and many suburbs, and heard about the devastation that had occurred in many of the areas, our sympathy went out to all of the people who were experiencing problems. Power was out, lives were disrupted and many people were made afraid by this act of nature.
Luckily we did not hear about loss of human life.
The theme that ran through the news reports was of neighbor helping neighbor, good people looking out for each other and concerns about the elderly–humanity at its best.
Our thoughts now go, as they often do, to Iraq.
There, too, the power is out for much of the time, lives are more than disrupted, children are terrified, the uncertainty of life weighs heavily and adults are fearful.
The loss of life is devastating; the soldiers, the children, the Iraqis–all human beings trapped in this endless fiasco.
This is not an act of nature but a willful extermination of life brought on by other human beings.
Many in the Chicago area were caught up in their numerous problems as the storm cleanup began.
As the days go by and they reflect on this time of hardship and this time of helping others, we hope their thoughts will also turn to Iraq and to the human beings there.
We hope the good people of the Chicago area will see a connection and find their voices to speak out and say that the devastation in Iraq must end. This would truly be humanity at its best.
