Not Enough Hours

Ever feel like there aren't enough hours in the day? I get home at 3:30 and start automatically on my homework. Maybe if I get it done early, I can have some "me" time tonight. Maybe if I go ahead and study now, I can chill later. It's now 9:00 at night and I am just now winding down. Homework, check. Dinner, check. Shower, check. Okay, time to breathe. I'm sitting in my living room, watching Cake Boss with my mom (craving a piece of chocolate cake the size of a freaking continent) and I am wondering how we can slow down time, or create more. What's the magic in the number twenty-four? Why not twenty-nine or thirty-three? I think God thought this through. I think he decided that twenty-four hours was the perfect amount of time. Just enough time to laugh a little and smile a lot. Just enough time to comfort a neighbor that is going through the unthinkable. Just enough time to cry a tear of compassion for someone and then take that energy and turn it into something positive. Just enough time to sleep and get ready to do it again. I think twenty-four hours is just enough.

Come Together

The United States and it's citizens have an unbelievable ability to come together through tragedy and come out stronger and smarter, more resolved in our fight to defend our Constitution and the foundation of the country we live in. In our short history as a nation, we have felt and mourned many tragedies and heartbreaks. September 11, 2001. The most horrifying act of violence ever shown towards our nation. Americans everywhere watched in tears the news coverage of New York City, engulfed in smoke and swallowed up in grief. We no longer felt safe. The Virginia Tech shootings. The deadliest peace time shooting incident by a single gunman in US history. 32 killed and even more wounded. Families of college kids being contacted and told that their child had been hurt or killed on the college campus that students once felt was safe. Parents hearing the breaking news on the TV or radio that the college campus their child explores their first adventure without them on was ravaged by a gunman, no way of knowing if their child was safe. The Challenger Space Shuttle diasaster. Millions of Americans watched live as the Challenger Shuttle took off and broke apart 73 seconds into flight. All 7 flight members, including the first participant in the Teachers in Space program, died in the crash. Ronald Reagon gave a speech that night, stating: "We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of Earth' to 'touch the face of God."
Today we find ourselves mourning the loss of the lives taken in Tuscon, Arizona last Saturday. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was assssinated in a grocery store parking lot during one of her Congress on Your Corner campaigns. 20 people are shot, and 6 are killed in the rampage. The Constitution has been ridiculed, and everything that makes our country a democracy has been failed. Ironically, just one week prior, Rep. Giffords stood on the floor of the Congress and read the first ammendment. Our right to free speach and peaceful petition. Our government has been rattled by this mindless act of hatred and we find ourselves confused. Confused how a peaceful gathering of politically concerned citizens can turn into such a tragedy. Today, president Obama is scheduled to make a speech at a memorial to take place in Tuscon. He will most likely eulogize the lives lost, while reminding us that we, as a country, have to be better than this. Have to be bigger, and smarter. But, for the families affected and mourning loved ones, nothing can dull the pain of what has happened. So, I will continue to pray for them. Pray that they feel God's presence in their life and that soon the numb shock will begin to wear away and they will start the healing process. Pray for Rep. Gifford's continued healing. I will also pray for our country. Pray that we do become stronger and more united. Under God. Indivisible. With liberty and justice for all.