Fort Hood

Yesterday, as the news broke about the Fort Hood shooting, I watched in disbelief. Selfishly, my first thought was one of gratitude. My son is stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas, thank God it wasn't at his post. Yet even though I don't personally know anyone at Fort Hood, I felt bound to those involved. When you have a loved one in the military, you feel connected to everyone in the military.

Every young person you see in uniform feels like your child. Every scene of deployment makes you cry. Every scene of homecoming makes you cry even more.

In the end, the whys and hows of this tragedy do not matter. There will be investigations, finger pointing, name calling, and in the end, some answers. Security will be tightened, then loosened, then tightened again.

What matters is the lives that were touched by yesterday's events. The lives of those directly involved, the lives of their friends and families, the lives of the other soldiers on that post and, in a widening circle, all active military. This affected those that are retired from the military, and those that are getting ready to enlist.

And, it affected us. It's a graphic reminder that we are not safe anywhere. We'll be more careful for a few days, maybe a week. Then, we'll forget... until the next horrific reminder.

Pray for the injured and their families, the families of the dead, the survivors at Fort Hood, the commanders who have to try to make sense of this. Pray for our country.