Voices from the past

When I was growing up I would see this framed article in my grandparents’ house. It was a simple typed message with two pictures included. One was of President John F. Kennedy and the other was of my Uncle Cyril Fisher. I never was able to get to know my uncle. He had died in a car crash in his teens.

The article was a brief message, a gathering of thoughts, that Cyril had typed up after the announcement of the assassination of Pres. Kennedy. He was in high school at the time when he heard the news. He wrote of how he went to the school’s office to confirm what he had just heard and secretary told him it was true. My uncle wrote that he hadn’t agreed with the president on all of his policies. Cyril also wrote that God help the nation going forward from that moment.

As a child I didn’t quite understand everything. As I grew I came to understand more of what he felt. The feelings of insecurity and uncertainty about the future and what it may hold. Where will the country go from that point? How are we going to move past this point?

Over the years, I’ve come to face such moments. One being when I was in college and Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Shortly after that Operation Desert Shield was announced with the coalition of forces. Like my uncle, I turned to prayer, asking for guidance for our country and protection for those who would be heading over to the Middle East.

Since then there have been other times when I’ve prayed that our country, and the world, be guided and there be protection for those who are in the armed forces and for civilians, as battles don’t stay in neat lines. For now, we will just have to see what the future will bring.