On The Tragedy In Duxbury

[ Readers, some of you may have seen this elsewhere, and I had intended to publish a number of articles this evening; but in light of the terrible tragedy here in Duxbury — where a Mother stands accused of murdering two of her children, and injuring the third, who is still in critical condition, before attempting to take her own life — I thought it fitting to pause for a moment in solemn recognition of the enormity of the events of the last day. - Ed. ]

It's a strange thing, "passing strange," when one recognizes the news footage of the site of a horrific tragedy -- such as that which occurred in our Town last night -- as a spot one knows from biking past it on the last warm day, and many days before that.

We live in a difficult time. The stresses of our age are many. Some of them are new, unprecedented, even; others are as old as the human condition. All of them can wear on people, who find themselves atomised, lonely, frightened, full of despair -- what the theologian Soren Kierkegaard called "the sickness unto death."

Yet numerous traditions, faiths, and expressions of the human spirit remind us that love may answer and transcend despair -- that "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

I'm thinking of the entire family, the entire Town, and all of our friends and neighbors throughout Plymouth County on this sad and rainy evening in Duxbury.