School Shootings: Pray for the children by Unknown

I found this in my archives dated 1998. Something to pause and ponder.

We pray for the Children
 who sneak Popsicle's before supper,
 who erase holes in math workbooks,
 who can never find their shoes.

 And we pray for those
 who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
 who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,
 who never "counted potatoes,"
 who are born in places where we wouldn't be  caught dead,
 who never go to the circus,
 who live in an X-rated world.

 We pray for children
 who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
 who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.

 And we pray for those
 who never get dessert,
 who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
 who watch their parents watch them die,
 who can't find any bread to steal,
 who don't have any rooms to clean up,
 whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
 whose monsters are real.

 We pray for children
 who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,

 who like ghost stories,
 who shove dirty clothes under the bed,
 who never rinse out the tub,
 who get visits from the tooth fairy,
 who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
 who squirm in church or temple and scream in the phone,
 whose tears we  sometimes laugh at and
 whose smiles can make us cry.

 And we pray for those
 whose nightmares come in the daytime,
 who will eat anything,
 who have never seen a dentist,
 who aren't spoiled by anybody,
 who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
 who live and move, but have no being.

 We pray for children
 who want to be carried and for those who must,
 who we never give up on
 and for those who don't get a second chance.
 For those we smother and . . .
 for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

 ~Unknown

 In Memory of........
 Natalie Brooks, student  age 12
 Paige Ann Herring, student age 12
 Stephanie Johnson, student age 12
 Brittany R. Varner, student age 11
 Shannon Wright,   Teacher age 32
 This is in memory of the children and teacher killed in the shooting
 on  Tuesday, March 24, 1998  in  Jonesboro, Arkansas.

and at Columbine, and at Pearl High School, and at West Virginia, and more recently at University of Tennessee.

Since 1996 there have been more than 40 school violence by firearms with three quarters of them here in the U.S.  I find it terribly disturbing that this is basically safer to fly on an airline than to go to school. Since 1996 there have been 59 fatal accidents on airlines out of the millions of flights. 



1 comment:

American History said...

your prayer touched me. I'm praying! I found this site helpful www.holylandprayer.com Check it; maybe it gives you a relief. God bless.