2003-09-19 11:07 a.m.
A title for this piece escapes me at the moment

One of Becky's childhood friends was found murdered in the Nevada desert two days ago.

Sometimes I wonder how my mother ever found the courage to let me set foot outside the house. I wonder how I, when I someday have them, will ever find the courage to allow my own sons and daughters to live freely, to let them out into such a world as this, knowing that it just might mean their death.

I know the answer, of course. Life itself, and the living of it, is worth that risk. It's just, sometimes I am hard-pressed to remember that.

Sometimes, I become disheartened. But that, as all things must, will pass. I am a person who does not believe in a god. I have, instead, chosen to place my faith in something far more fragile, yet something far more powerful, and far less comfortable (and comforting), at times, to believe in. And that is humankind itself. Because "god's work isn't done by god, it's done by people." No god is going to make my life (or yours) worse, or better, or easier to live. Nor will any god make this world a better place. I will. You will. Many people will. Many people do. And that is the answer to the "Why?" we've all been asking, over and over like the ever curious child, since we've been old enough to recognize this world for what it is.

People don't always get it right. I may not, either. But I will, without the shadow of a doubt, die trying.

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