In Honor Of

Manchester England is about 200 miles northwest of London.  The city lies about 35 miles east from Liverpool, that industrial port town that gave us modern popular music.  From Manchester have come John Thaw (the original Inspector Morse), Morrissey and the Gallagher brothers. Despite this for the next half a century the name Manchester will be stained with the memory of innocents whose blood was shed without purpose. For a city to face being long associated with something it had no control over is a shame, really.

 

Phrases from the New Testament and from drunken Irish poets fill my head as I contemplate what occurred in Manchester.  I want to say to the parent of every child lost or maimed that they should not grieve as those without hope.  They need to know that every heart of every parent that has raised a child with love stands with them and aches for them. Each of us as we are thinking of them believes that their child, and every child lost in that arena, is in a better reality.  We pray for every single person touched by this tragedy.

 

To those who have carried out this act of murder and mayhem we say this vile form of death shall have no dominion over us.  We say your acts of cowardly horror will have no power over us, not now, not ever. We will live as wounded people but as enlightened people. The world will grieve with every soul in Manchester touched by this tragedy.  We will not however surrender to acts such as this designed for naught but evil.  In spite of you we will lives of freedom.