Article February 15, 1993 Issue

Why are we here?

Violence isn't a foregone conclusion. Through prayer we can play a role in lessening it.

Carolyn Hill

It didn't take me any time at all to accept my husband's offer to spend a night at the beach en route home from a meeting. However, by the time we got there, the NO VACANCY sign was posted at our usual place, so we settled for one not exactly on our priority list.

Not long after we retired for the night, the stillness was shattered by angry voices and obscenities in the next room. This was followed by the sound of broken glass and a fist pounding on the wall over our bed. Because the manager's apartment was directly above us, we expected the manager to do something. It became obvious this wasn't going to happen. I made a rather feeble attempt to respond calmly. I wasn't having much success.

I had no sooner thought, "Why are we here?" when I heard my husband say those very words. I could tell that he didn't mean, "What's a nice couple like us doing in a place like this?" Rather, he was recognizing, as I was, that we were not here by chance. This could be thought of as a microcosm of the warfare going on in the world between people and sometimes between countries. It needed healing.

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