Spring healing

I've resisted the urge over the last several days to make any mention of the tragedy at Virginia Tech. For one thing, there are already millions of blogs adding volumes of commentary on the topic across the blogosphere, and I didn’t think I had that much to add to the burgeoning conversation already going on.

Then Virginia’s comment on yesterday’s post got me to thinking. Someone received a measure of solace from a photograph I posted. I took it two days before the rampage on the VT campus. It shows a cycle of life getting ready to make one more run with the return of warm breezes after the sting of winter has passed.

One young man wouldn’t or couldn’t allow the warm breezes to erase the wintery stings in his tortured life. He chose to make the winter permanent and by his actions imposed the same choice on a large circle of grieving family members and friends across the country. My prayer is that those who mourn will find and receive the healing breezes. But I know that some will choose to hold onto the icy shards of anger, bitterness and hatred, making permanent again the winter that one person attempted to impose on so many, making him the winner in his twisted game.

Photo: Into the Woods, taken near Bloomington, IL. 70mm lens, 5 seconds at f22, 100 ISO. Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2007 James Jordan.