Unprecedented Week

Last week was unprecedented in the history of the country, having experience three tragedies, each one in and of itself we should consider horrifying and should cause us to carefully think about whether we are moving away from, rather than closer to, the ideal of “a more perfect union”. Early in the week pipe-bombs were sent to at least 13 current and former federal officials. This was the largest governmental assassination plot in the history of the country. At mid-week, a shooter failed to gain access to a Black Church in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, and so took his race-based frustrations out by killing two African American patrons in a nearby Kroger Supermarket. And, at the end of the week a gunman opened fire inside a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing 11 members of the congregation and wounding four police officers and two other people. These acts, and similar prejudice and phobia-based events in recent years, exemplify what historian Jon Meacham refers to in his recent book as a battle for our better angles [The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels]. We have seen the consequences of mankind's demons over the past century - for example, the nationalistic roots of two world wars, and more recently ISIS. America is supposed to be much better than that.

The two photos posted here are from the Prayer Vagal held on Old Main Lawn this evening for the victims from the Tree of Life Synagogue slaughter, their families, the community of Squirrel Hill and first responders.