Inspired to react to a Frederick Franck quote, I wrote this.
While watching the six o’clock news, I am forced to face the poverty of my spirit. I am powerless. I am impotent. I am not in control. There is nothing I can do to effect a change.
But I do feel compelled to do something. And though practically none of my experience reinforces my behavior, I choose to pray for those people in the stories told on the six o’clock news. I pray for the repose of the souls who have died, healing for the injuried, mercy and conversion of the murderers and criminals, and God’s blessings upon all, especially for the survivors, family members, and their friends.
I am not a lone individual sitting in my living room watching the six o’clock news, isolated from the people in those stories. I am connected to them. We are one. Maybe I am not suppose to change anything. Maybe I am. I don’t know. I do know that I am changed by hearing their stories.