May They Rest in Peace...

These are sad times in the United States of America.

All the senseless deaths in Florida this week have really weighed heavily on my heart and mind.

The mass shootings of innocent human beings have happened so many times before and, unless things change, they will happen again.

Each individual must determine what she or he can do to make things better. 

Taking action is always better than giving up in discouragement.

For today, my thoughts are with the heartbroken families who have lost loved ones.  

May the deaths of those precious human beings, as well as those who previously died by gun violence, not be in vain.

May they rest in eternal peace.

In Memoriam

Today our hearts are sad for the brave men who  died tragically in the Arizona wildfire.

They were called the Granite Mountain Hotshots and they were part of the Prescott, Arizona, Fire Department.

The sorrow of their loved ones, left behind, is heart-wrenching.

Children will never see their fathers again.  

Wives have lost their partners, their beloved husbands, who never dreamed they wouldn't be coming home.

The tears of mothers and fathers, who will never again hug their sons
on earth, will fall. 

Brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and friends will all mourn the tragic loss of men they loved.
It goes to show how quickly life can change.







   May the souls of the brave firefighters rest in eternal peace. 

(The photos in today's post were taken on Monday, July 1st, by Susan Wicker on the way up to Mount Greylock in Western Massachusetts.)

Remembering the Victims in Colorado

                         (Trees in our back yard. Photo by Susan Wicker)      

It's hard to comprehend why things happen, like the shootings in Colorado last Friday.


It's all so senseless. 

Innocent people, including children, decided to go to the movies and will never go home again.


It's not supposed to be like that but it is.

The actions of one obviously very sick individual impacted the lives of so many people.


Think of all the family members, friends and co-workers of those who died so needlessly.

                                                          (More trees in our backyard. Photo by Susan Wicker.)

The victims will be terribly missed.

Even the lives of those still hospitalized will never again be the same.

Their thoughts will return, again and again, to the night when violence shook the movie theater and radically changed so many lives forever.

All of our hearts, I'm sure, go out to the victims and the families they left behind. 

They also go out to those still hospitalized.  

Personally, I also feel deep sadness for the parents of the gunman.  

They must wonder why, too, such horror happened.

 As for the gunman, himself, only God can deal with him in His own time. 


As for all those who died, may they rest in eternal peace.

                                      (A recent sunset in Western Massachusetts. Photo by Susan Wicker.)

HOW DO YOU THINK SUCH TRAGEDIES CAN BE PREVENTED IN THE FUTURE?