today

There is a column by Garrison Keillor at this link. It's called A Parent's Prayer. It's a lovely story.

I read in the paper about a young man who was killed when a cement block fell off a landscaping truck and smashed through the window of a van being driven by his best friend in which he was a passenger. The driver of the landscaping truck had been ticketed some years ago for not properly securing his load of cement blocks after one dropped off his truck. Nobody was killed that time. As this story has haunted me, I wonder if there can be redemption for this person. I wonder if he was just careless...twice. I wonder if he was malicious...twice. I wonder if he will have a change of heart from carelessness or malice; now, finally. How do you live the rest of your life in peace knowing you ended the life of a young man with your deliberate behavior?

This is a link to a youtube video of Barak Obama signing the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010. The native woman who introduces him is in full native regalia and she tries to tell her story but is choked by the trauma of 16 years past. For several minutes she is unable to speak. Obama moves up beside her, speaks softly, and it appears he is touching her back gently and encouraging her to go on. They stand that way for quite a while. Eventually she tells her story. It's quite moving and worth watching.