Encroaching Darkness

     It is very quiet this morning.  Even the 4:30 a.m. train did not seem to make as much noise as usual.  There are no stars, at least none that are visible, only clouds, left over from the last two days of rain.  It is unseasonably warm and the breeze feels soft on my face.  It tries to tell me spring is in the air, but I know better, after all, it's past the middle of November.

     I stand in the darkness and look to the south.  The cloud cover is just right to allow me to see the lights of St. Louis, Missouri reflecting on its ceiling.  This always fascinates me.  To drive there is nearly a two hour trip.  As the crow flies though, it is only about eighty miles.

     I look at the reflected light and I wonder.  I wonder if somewhere in France there is a small town that can see the lights of Paris eighty miles away.  There probably is.  I think about the recent bloodshed in the 'City of Light' and the thought leaves me with a sense of bewilderment.  What did it solve?  What did it prove?  

     My thoughts turn to reasoning.  I am a peace maker.  I do not like conflict and will go out of my way to smooth rough waters. But, in order to reason, there has to be willing parties on both sides. People whose main slogan is "Death to the Infidels" do not leave much bargaining room on the table.  There is only one way and it is their way.......period.

     Mother always said that young men make good soldiers because they are not afraid.  The ages of the extremist tells the story of impressionable minds.  Minds that have been fed propaganda of death and destruction and that anyone who does not follow their belief system needs to be destroyed.  They use fear as their most powerful weapon.  They are no different than a derelict who beats an animal into submission.  They breed hatred among themselves and their victims. 

     I think about all the thousands who have risked and lost their lives trying to get someplace where they are not afraid.  I cannot imagine what that must be like. To stand and see your child's lifeless body washed up on a foreign sandy beach because that risk was the only option available has to be indescribable heartbreak. 

    The universe works in mysterious ways.  Order comes out of chaos.  Things happen for a reason.  My hope is that the order comes soon, before the seeds of darkness that are being planted take root.  I do not know if I would stand and fight, or flee in fear. But I do know this, I don't want to find out.