I have many stories to tell of God's goodness and our hope and joy through him in this world. But somehow the darkness overshadows that goodness right now and my life is caught up in the grief of others. This time it is another friend of mine. I cannot tell of the details because there will be a trial coming up and I would not want the information to get into the wrong hands.
To support my friend, I offered to go to juvenile court with her yesterday. From 9am to 2pm, a small waiting room was filled with people--all with the same court time of 9am. What a system we have. What suffering in that room. Families broken and parents waging war over custody. Two scruffy young boys doing their best to wait patiently, their lives in the hands of a judge who hasn't had time to preview the case and has to make a snap decision on the information he has. A teenage girl in some sort of trouble writes furiously in a diary the whole time we wait. Her life in the hands of an overworked, very young caseworker.
I saw evil in the eyes of fathers. Fathers who have not been fathers, but have selfishly pursued their own pleasures and in the meantime have destroyed their children's lives. Children who have been neglected and mistreated. Children who act out their rage with crimes against the society that produced them. This room, this place, is a culmination of our sick and perverted culture. This was one day in one county in this country, reproduced thousands of time across our nation on any given day. Lord, have mercy.
2 comments:
It is hard to have this right in your face. So many of us are able to hide from this kind of thing that happens everyday. Being a teacher brought to light a lot for me. I've been thinking about the decay of family for a long time now and the impact on society. It's scary.
My life is too sheltered, I guess. It's easy to forget about the suffering in the world when I mostly stay at home. I chose to homeschool to keep my daughters from those influences. They will find out all too soon anyway. I so admire your life in Kentucky. If only we were younger, we'd consider getting out of the crazy Northeast. My Appalachian roots are calling to me!
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