Article December 13, 2010 ISSUE

SAFE FROM TERRORISM

BY VICKI TURPEN

ONE DAY ABOUT 25 YEARS AGO, while I was watching the news, I saw a report on a terrorist bombing at an international airport. This was just a few days before my daughter, who was 17 years old at the time, was to fly out of that very airport.

I had been praying for my daughter's safety; however, as I watched the report, I became shocked at the narrowness of my prayers. Even as I felt gratitude that my daughter was not there yet, I felt the chilling nature of the word victim and realized I had accepted that word for others.

It's generally accepted that people can be victimized by terrorism, civil war, famine, racial strife, political upheaval, crime, and even changing weather patterns. But as I was watching the TV that day, it occurred to me that even as individuals and governments seek better laws, tighter security, peace treaties, and other measures to deal with these circumstances, these proposals, while often helpful, always involve to some extent rearranging material conditions, and therefore can never be the ultimate solution. As a Christian Scientist, I felt a great need to pray more deeply about lasting solutions to uphold safety for everyone.