Life, death, and fire

What kind of people set fire to a playground for little kids? What good can come of that?

Yet that's exactly what happened at our boys school on Saturday night. Three teenage boys set fire to the little kids (k-2) playground. It's hard to have a gratitude attitude about such things. Yet remarkably, my kindie is not upset. The big insurance people will take care of it, after all. He's going to get a NEW playground. Besides, he only gets recess on Fridays.

I predict my second grader is going to be much more upset. He's all about justice, rules, and right. He's going to be following the situation until the "evil people" (as my kindie put it) get caught.

As for me, it's just one more line in the bad country song our last few weeks have been. My cousin's kids can't eat. (see food post earlier this month.) My husband's grandpa died. And now someone burned down my kid's playground.

It's hard to have a gratitude attitude in such circumstances. Yet I still can find things to be grateful for. A generation ago, my cousin's darling boys would be dead by now. Modern medicine is a wonderful thing. My husbands grandfather lived well into his nineties and knew the Lord. He's reunited with his wife of 60+ years now. And while the windows near the playground were damaged, neither the roof, nor nearby grass and trees caught fire. My kids still have a school to go to. Nobody was injured by the fire. The district has adequate insurance to repair the damages. Our kids get to see firsthand what happens when people don't think before they act, and have the opportunity to do better. And I know they will.