The sign outside the church read "Pray for Dru."
I wonder if this was an old sign that had been up since her abduction... or was it a message newly made upon the news of finding her remains?
I was raised Lutheran and have always been. We were always taught
not to pray for the dead, because they were already in the hands of God... but instead to pray for those left behind to bear the sorrow of the loss.
It isn't really important... I just found it curious.
"Prodded by fear and anger over the Dru Sjodin case, Minnesota is now poised to dramatically expand its efforts to punish and prevent violent crime by sending hundreds, and eventually thousands, of sex offenders to prison for life.
Some official estimates of the cumulative cost of such a policy exceed $1 billion over the next 20 years, mainly to pay for more trials and prison cells
Thank GOD!! I hope the rest of the country follows suit. A billion dollars?.. So what! We spend far greater sums in this country on less important things by far.
Scandi said:
- I do think Dru was a very special gal, and I am so sorry she was treated like a piece of meat by her killer.
I more than agree. And I believe all of these victims of sexual predators are very special to someone in some way. I have tried... but cannot fathom how someone can randomly choose a person (either because of opportunity or other reasons) and then simply consider that person disposable. How can they dehumanize a person to the level needed to simply dispose of the person and go about their normal routine??
When I see a victim's picture I see a baby being born... a toddler learning to walk and talk... a Kindergarten graduation... the first tears of heartbreak... photos of family vacations...
I see the face, beautiful or plain, of someone who means everything to someone else... to many others. I see someone so cherished, that a mother sat up all night at least once monitoring a fever... a mother who only reluctantly relinquished this treasure to a school bus driver the very first time, enduring anxious fear of the most unlikely event... sure that her child will only be safe within the confines of her own home. I see a mother learning slowly to let go, and not easily weathering the adjustment, though she smiles on the outside.
But mostly I see my own three little girls, with paralleled, but very different lives, and an abundance of memories crammed into just a few short years.
Yet to one wicked person, on any given day, all of that would be meaningless... as if the human target he forces under his control is nothing but a machine activated that same day for his use. He sees his target as something to be consumed and then discarded. And the most frightening thing of all is that there are so many of these people... not just the evil man who killed Dru. How do they get to that place of complete darkness in their mind and their soul? Would it be as frightening to know the answer as it is to not understand?
PolkSaladAnnie said:
He does not see color, neighborhood or wealth. He sees His Dearly Departed as assets in His Kingdom and selects a few of them to continue His story.
Though I completely understand where the logic for this comes from... I've come to believe over time that this isn't true. Of course I believe that God sweeps up His murdered children into his arms and they become at peace in His kingdom. But I don't believe their horrible deaths had anything to do with God. I don't believe he sought their early demise or called them... He simply allows free will and allows tragedy because it was chosen by the killer without regard to God's word or wishes.
Back when the bombing of the federal building took place downtown I remember watching parents whose children had survived the blast even though they had been in the daycare, and most children there did not. More than one of these parents said to the news cameras that they believed God had intervened and saved their child. But to say that, is in a sense saying that the other children who perished were somehow unworthy of God's intervention. It portrays God as a fickle being who picks and chooses the families that will be spared pain from an intentional attack by a criminal, and those who will suffer and grieve. I don't believe that is true. I believe that God allows the tragedy that results from a choice by an evil heart. I believe He grieves right alongside His children, and provides the strength and ability to survive something they must never have believed they ever could.
