A few thoughts about recent events

There is a special level of hell reserved for those who prey on the weak, defenseless, children and elderly. We can sit here and blame the breakup of the family, society, video games, violence on tv, the devaluation of human life...and I think they all play somewhat of a part in things like the killing of Chris Lane and Delbert Belton.  But then sometimes, it all boils down to pure evil. It exists. Other people are in single-parent situations, horrible conditions in society, watch tv and play the same games but they don't succumb to the devil's call to kill another human being. No...the people who committed these crimes are simply evil. You cannot rehabilitate evil.

What bothers me greatly is the lack of respect for life. It's a gift and only one entity has the right to take it away and He's not human. Chris Lane was no threat jogging along, bothering no one. Shot in the back. For what? Those who killed him said "for fun." Taking an innocent life is not "fun." Delbert Belton was definitely not at threat, either, in his late 80's. Beaten to death with flashlights. Those boys should have been asking him to tell them his stories from the war! He was a hero! Wounded on Okinawa-did he ever imagine his life would end at the hands of two AMERICANS who looked at him in that parking lot and decided that night would be his last?

I thought mostly of Mr. Belton, I admit, because there are so many veterans in my family. I was raised by a VERY patriotic mama...my grandfather (her daddy), my great uncle, my daddy, my uncle, and a cousin were all Marines, while I have several cousins who were in the Army. I was taught to respect them and their service to our country.I was raised to believe America is the greatest country on earth and to love her!  It's something I have already begun trying to instill in my own son, who just turned 3. (never too young!) I cannot imagine anyone not teaching their children to look up to those who served this country!

My last point is that we have a responsibility to stamp out evil whenever it rears its ugly head. We can't just pass the buck and blame others (the "Obama way" as I like to refer to it). We have to meet it head on and identify it, and get rid of it. Things like the killings of Chris Lane and Delbert Belton cannot be written off as random violence that is society's fault instead of the perpetrators' faults. They must face the consequences and those must be dire!