Near the place where the young woman's body was found, there are three simple altars. The field is vibrant green grass, trees budding out and the sounds of birds singing. In spring here in the midwest, we look for signs of life, especially if we live in the country. One of the reasons we move here is to be more in touch with nature.
We expect to observe her cycles of life and death and to be a little more involved in them in some kind of respectful way. We don't like violence. Whether we spend more time with plants or animals or just enjoying the seasons, we usually deepen our appreciation for how it all works together and increase our gratitude for being a part of it.
Finding that a young woman was murdered and dropped in the nearby field, we can't help wondering, how am I, a peaceful, kind-hearted person, a part of such atrocity? Not everyone wonders this by any means. Some just react in fear, maybe think about security systems or punishment for the criminal. But, others think about our shared responsibility for all that goes wrong in the world.
How much violence do our children see each day? Images are extremely powerful. Most people feel there is little they can do to change things. The screens are everywhere now, showing everything. Our world subconscious as well as our highest visions are revealed to us. Lots of the news is frightening. In the best of neighborhoods, few children are allowed to play outside. Something, whether a germ or a person, might get them.
It used to be that children walked to school together, played together, sometimes got into trouble together. But, when the adults were also outside sitting on their porches or working in their yards, they looked out for those children, theirs and everyone else's.
Now, everyone is at her desk or in his cubicle looking at a screen and watching "somewhere else." The field where the body lay was once filled with young people. Back in the 1960's, it was part of a hippie commune. The commune itself went through its own decline when too many people used it as a place to get high on something other than peace and love.
It's hard to keep the vision - a world of peace and love - with so many distractions. Now, there are even more. But, the altars and fresh flowers at the field where the body was found let me know that love and peace are still in people's hearts.
Even though placing a flower and saying a prayer, lighting a candle or writing a poem are small things, they matter. We see that someone cares. Someone cares. Someone cares. These are the images we want our children to have. Someone cares. Drive by and show them. Someone cares.