What Village?

Everywhere I go people are talking in dismay and anger about the events in Paris.  It is naturally the topic that all conversations turn to.  I even had my 'free' TV service upgraded to cable yesterday because I have felt so irresponsible to not know the latest information about the situation as it continues to unfold.

But I kept looking at the photos of these 'terrorists'...and surely they are.  These comments are in NO WAY intended to make excuses for any of them. But I found my own anger toward them (beyond the very obvious!) turning generational.

Who do they think they are?  Look at those faces! LOOK! What?...20-something?!!!  What do they know?!  What could they possibly know?!  How could they be so angry at a world of people who have lived 'normal' lives - where people go to movies, restaurants, ballgames, concerts together?  Why weren't they at the concert?  Eating dinner with friends?  Walking hand-in-hand with a girlfriend?  Making dreams and plans to accomplish them - intelligently and civily?

What do they know about life?  What do they know about the fun and nonsense and celebration of being young? 

What do they know about working a day in their lives to deserve whatever they have?  Do they know the responsibility of working to feed a wife and children?  Do they know that most people in this world work monthly to live the next month?  Do they know that the rest of us work for what we have?  And that we're proud to do so?!!  Do they know that we work hard, day after day after day, so we can take care of ourselves and have something left to drop in the church collection plate; to purchase seasons tickets to the symphony; to take the kids to Branson; to send an annual gift to St. Jude's Children's Hospital; to help a friend who lost their job; to thrill a husband with a new golf club for his birthday; to check on aging parents and buy their groceries or pay their utility bills?

What do they think we do...rollick around in our wealth as insanely as they wallow in their senseless wrath and revengeful anger? 

Who do they think we are?  How completely out of touch with reality are these 'kids!'  It is scary to see young men, so out of touch, making such a mark on the world's picture album.  I don't like these kids or their pictures...somebody failed them badly...and I don't like them either.

Yes, somebody failed these kids, or these kids have unusually soured hearts and complete disregard for a mother's wisdom.  Are there no grownup Dads in their families whose footsteps would lead them to be responsible young men?  No village men to teach them to be brave rather than angry cowards with big guns?  How can they miss the mark so badly...so way off in never-never land?  Do they really believe the fairy tale that some virgins are waiting for them in some make-believe paradize?

Where is the village in their part of the world?  The village that we all experienced while growing up...the ones who made sure our parents knew that we did something naughty on the way home from school.  The ones who supported every touchdown we made, every small town newspaper photo acclaiming our little accomplishmetns, every courtesy and thoughtfulness we displayed.  The ones who came off their porch to help us up when we toppled off our tricycles on the concrete, picked us up and bandaged our scratched elbows...and years later turned us in for speeding in Dad's car. 

Whether existing on some terraine of soil or just in the misguided thinking of their minds, these kids came from a very sick village.  This village is a failure, spelled in all CAPS...FAILURE.  How very, very sad for the whole world...

Thank God for all the villages of the world that are spelled "WELL-DONE," and through whose influence, the rest of us turned out somewhat imperfectly human, responsible, intelligent, caring, forgiving, generous...

...and REAL!

It took a village.