HEARTBREAK IN COLORADO

Once again I have my morning coffee with tears in my eyes. It's a rainy and foggy morning, and the "Breaking News" is once again from Colorado. Such a gorgeous state where even the official flower the "Columbine" no longer has the same meaning. For the next few days the news will be of funerals, broken lives and dreams, and questions about motives and warnings. "The Dark Knight Rises" has been the talk of the town lately, having been filmed in our city, and hyped all over the country with it's midnight premiers. Now just as that beautiful little state flower has had it's innocent image tarnished, the movie will also forever be tainted with tragedy.

Lots of us have been anxious to see the film...tempted to head out for a midnight adventure that is such a fun part of the magic of movies, and such a nice escape from most nights with the DVR or Netflix. We'll still go to the movies, critique the story, and point out the landmarks we grew up with, and probably try unsuccessfully to avoid thinking about what happened to a similar group of moviegoers in Colorado.

It's going to be a steamy day here in Pittsburgh, too humid to do much in the garden, too depressing to keep watching the news, and too familiar to be all that shaken by another mass murder. My gentle and incredibly strong and dedicated neighbor at the cottage works with severely troubled kids in Erie. Since we're both therapists by trade, we seem to be able to sense when one of us has had a rough day. Every so often we'll sit together by the lake and just support one another without a lot of words...just a shared understanding of what he calls the wretchedness that is so prevalent in our world. We ran into each other the day after 9/11, and simply exchanged hugs...no words at all that day. I'll see him later this afternoon, and our moods will mirror one another again I'm sure.

Lives were changed in Colorado forever last night. The tears shed there will flow like a soaking rain, and the rest of us will mourn as well. If we were indeed all islands, we'd surely escape the overshadowing grief of days like today, but indeed we are not. I read once where someone asked a question about wars....about whose side God was on...and the reply was that God is on the side of those who suffer...they'll need God in Colorado.

There's a certain wonderful innocence about heading out for a midnight premier of an exciting new movie. Seeing that shattered and lost in a matter of minutes is such a demoralizing experience. ...heartbreaking for every one of us...and all too familiar.