Monday, April 6, 2009

The cruellest month

Branch Davidians, Waco TX - 19 April, 1993

Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City OK - 19 April, 1995

Columbine High School, Colu - 20 April, 1999


Virginia Tech, Blacksburg VA - 16 April 2007

and now American Civic Association, Binghamton NY - 3 April 2009

These events, and these types of events, were not at all what T.S. Eliot had in mind when he wrote the opening words of The Waste Land, but I can't help thinking of those words each year when April rolls around.

April is the month of my birth, as well as my friends Laurel and Geri, and is a wonderful time of the year as spring makes its entrance. But since 1993, it has also been a time of sadness. Too many times in the month of April, we learn of tremendous acts of violence and we are left asking "why?"

"I will show you fear in a handful of dust."
- The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot, 1922

No comments: