So sad, so sad the news
Come our way this morning;
Like a bad bad dream,
A dream that you’d never even talk about;
In a school, a school
A place where we send our precious children;
The only place of innocence the world might ever let them know.
As another heart-breaking story breaks today about a person with a gun shooting kids in a school right after there was another person shooting people in a mall, we see the usual pattern of questions being asked. How many? Who? Why? While we will eventually get some answers on the first two questions, we never find an answer for the last question.
On days like this, I find some comfort in Dan Bern‘s beautiful song, “Kid’s Prayer.” In the song — written after the Thurston High School shooting in Springfield, Oregon in June 1998 — Bern asks the questions about what leads to such random violence but ultimately concludes that the only thing we can do comes down to taking care of our kids the best we can.
There are things you know,
Your kids will never know;
There’s places they live,
Where you will never go;
So dance with your kids,
Paint with your kids,
Walk with your kids . . .
The above Dan Bern performance is from Housing Works on March 26, 2004, available for free download at archive.org. And you may watch the video directed by Peter Franchella below.
Be safe and hug your loved ones today.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)