Snow and Silence

Snow started falling in the middle of the night. By midday there were several inches on the ground with more coming down. Falling snow is beautiful, peaceful, and quiet.

It is a welcome time for peace and quiet. This morning President Obama led the nation in a moment of silence to honor and pray for Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and all of the victims of a senseless shooting in Arizona. The shock and sadness of this tragedy are overwhelming. News reports of the innocent victims are heartbreaking to say the least. There are news clips of Gabby reading about freedom of speech from the U.S. Constitution on the House Floor just last week. Back home in Arizona, she was doing exactly what public servants and elected officials are supposed to be doing. She was listening to her constituents on a Saturday morning at a Safeway Grocery store. This shooting feels a lot like a terrorist attack.

But the shooter is not a foreign terrorist. He is a 22 year old American boy who obviously has mental illness. And a gun. Many believe that hot and angry political rhetoric, added to a mentally disturbed boy with a gun, had a part in this tragedy. Count me in the group of people who hope that good discussion and honest debate can return to the political scene replacing the shouting, sound bites, halftruths, and hatred. But also count me in the group who believes that's only a piece of the puzzle. Everytime something tragic like this happens, it turns out that denial or a lack of treatment of mental illness is also a factor.

The national moment of silence this morning reminded me of a quote from William Penn, a Quaker and a pacifist who lived during Colonial times. His writings were studied and incorporated into the U.S. Constitution that Gabby Giffords read from last week. Penn believed in equality, unity, truth and peace.

About silence, Penn said, "True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment."

True silence is a very rare thing in our lives. But at 11:00 this morning, with snow silently falling and a quiet house, I joined in silence with others across the nation to honor the shooting victims. After a few minutes, a favorite hymn came to mind which ends with singing, "God is Love and our vocation is to love till love has won". Here's to Silence. And to Love and Peace.