Today is Thursday, July 2nd, 2009; Karen's Korner #1604
I have been thinking a lot about the shooting tragedy which occurred in Parkersburg a week ago last Wednesday.
For any Karen's Korner readers outside of Iowa or who may not have heard otherwise: Long-time football coach Ed Thomas, who has had one of the most successful careers in high school history and who currently has four of his former players currently playing in the NFL, was shot and killed by Mark Becker, a 24-year-old and former player.
The town of less than 2,000 residents and the state of Iowa are in shock and mourning at such a senseless tragedy. More than 2500 people attended Coach Thomas' funeral a couple of days ago.
People nationwide are 'there' for the Thomas family.
But my mind has been focused the past few days on the Becker family. What about them? I don't know much about their family. But I know the both families attend the same church. Probably live in the Parkersburg area as well.
What must mom and dad, grandparents, any siblings be thinking, feeling, and doing in light of what a son, grandson, or brother has done?
I know our family story is different but I would like to share something which has happened to us.
My sister has a son who lived with a gal for several years. They had a baby but the relationship did not survive. For a period of time my nephew and the child's mom shared custody of the baby. Then it became child support and weekend visits for Tom and his young daughter.
The arrangement continued until the daughter became a pre-teen. Tom was invited to the doctor's office where the physician announced that there was no biological way that the daughter could be his child. His rare blood type and hers made it 100% impossible for him to be her father.
After a series of court hearings and legal wranglings, Tom was rendered completely out of her young life.
Knowing the tragedy of us losing our daughter Merry, my sister told me a few weeks or months later, "When you lost Merry, you had all kinds of people around you. They were there for you and you could lean on them. You had a cemetery where you could go."
Jan continued, "I just lost my granddaughter. I don't have any of those things. Where does this grandmother go to grieve?"
The Parkersburg story and our story aren't the same.
But it is similar. Two families are grieving. One family is probably receiving more support than the other.
Let's pray for both of them......
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