Reflections
An Ashen Valentine’s Day, One Year Later
Posted on February 14, 2019 | Posted by Pastor Daniel
In her own fear and grief she held another mother
who could not bear the tragedy
as children were being shot dead.
Perhaps their own, they feared.
She wore the symbols of the two holy days:
St. Valentine’s and Ash Wednesday.
Love and Mortality.
Outward displays reflecting inner turmoil.
In the year since the two are no longer in touch,
as each commits herself to a path toward love
– a path that reckons with mortality –
a path that differs from the other’s.
Their new-found division is political,
but not just political. Also personal and important.
Just like the divisions across our country,
but also different.
Love and mortality form an awkward bond
that can never be broken.
On February 14, 2018, Joel Auerbach of the Associated Press captured the picture of two mothers outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High as 17 students and staff were murdered inside. In the year since the Parkland shooting there have been 31 incidents at a K-12 school where someone was shot. On average, 35,000 people die in the US from gun violence every year, including 12,000 murders.
The story of the two mothers one year later can be found here: https://apnews.com/42b40e8fc1514e79aec739eb10725045
