Choice: The Tapestry of Life

One person decides to solve his problems by taking the life of another.
A young man decides to take drugs and accidentally never wakes up.
Sometimes this choice business just smacks you up along side the head! It sucks! You feel like you've been blindsided by a semi truck when the full impact of choice hits your life. And not only your life. Choices bear fruit in the lives of all those around us. It is like a tapestry-interwoven-one thread connected to the others. Disturb one and sometimes the entire thing unravels!
I've been haunted with thoughts about the DeKleine murder case. All the choices gone wrong there and the end result was pain all around. A man, a police officer no less,  decides to murder his estranged wife and leave her for their children to discover. We have a beautiful lady, Lori DeKleine, who lost her life. Her former husband has now lost his life as well in the sense that he will be living his life in prison. His choice has caused such horriffic pain-and yet, I believe that, for someone to act in such a savage way towards another, he must also be in agonizing pain of some kind. Otherwise, how could he do such a thing?  One family grieves the loss of a daughter, the other of a son. They were brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles. They had friends and coworkers. They had church connections and community connections and school connections.The children will not have either of their parents present to participate in their lives. Both families are grieving the losses they have suffered. So many things for all of them to sort through and try to make sense of when sometimes there is no sense to be made. Such a tragedy in every way! Nobody wins-not really.Ken DeKleine may feel he took justice but it was costly to everyone involved including himself. Some of the losses have not even been recognized yet-the full weight of it all is not something that becomes apparent immediately. It comes in waves and layers.
Last night I had the sad duty to accompany my two sons, Tyler and Trevor, to a visitation for a classmate of theirs from Holland Christian. A young man only 21 years of age. Reportedly, although not confirmed, he died of a drug overdose. The funeral is today.It's hitting us hard in this house! I think of all the pain and suffering and grief going on in this town. The sorrow was thick in the room at the funeral home and the face of this young man's mother told of the terrible toll the death of her son has taken on her heart. I could hardly bear to be there but I knew we needed to be-had to be-to support and be supported by others.
Choice is a powerful thing. Consider well not only what constitues right action in your own life but the lives of all you touch.Are your everyday choices making your life tapestry richer and fuller or causing it to unravel?