No Answers, Please
Thoughts On The Recent Tragedy In Texas
Clay News & Views is focused on Clay County, but some news is too big to ignore. Susan Armstrong offers some perspective on the recent tragedy in Texas.
My favorite columnist was Roddy Stinson from the San Antonio Express-News. He passed away several years ago, but I still reach back to his columns, which I clipped and saved, for his insightful wisdom.
In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing on April 18, 1995, which killed 168 people, including little children, Stinson wrote a column that offered no explanations. Still, that column remains kind of a weird beacon which I seek in the midst of tragedies.
After the horrific floods in Kerrville, Texas, that killed so many, including those children at Camp Mystic, I dug out Roddy’s column.
In that column, he told a story about a little girl who asked her father, “Papa, what does heavy-hearted mean?”
“It’s hard to explain,” the father said, “but you will know it when you feel it.”
I know that feeling. Probably like many of you, I have been carrying that painful knot in the center of my chest for the last few days. In my heavy-heartedness, I pray for the victims in Kerrville, TX, and their families, but a question still burns within me. “How could God let such a thing happen?”
The Rev. Billy Graham spoke at a memorial service for the victims of the Oklahoma bombing, and he was asked that same question.
“I don’t know,” answered Graham with courageous candor. He said such tragedies were a “mystery.”
Roddy said years before when several children he had tutored as a volunteer at a local hospital had died of cancer, he had created a “Park of No Answers.” He even established certain rules. Littering and jogging on the grass were permitted, but answers were NOT prohibited by law. “$200 fine!”
“If the rules are strictly enforced, the park will be the only place in the world—perhaps in history—where people can ask questions and not have to listen to answers. There will be mothers of dying daughters, fathers of crippled sons and children of pain-racked parents. There will be mourners who have seen friends die in a blazing car or a funnel of wind or a swirling creek. They will all go to the park and ask ‘Why?’ But no one will answer.”
“There will be no lectures on imperfect worlds, no sermons on the efficacy of suffering, and no psychological gibberish or smart-alecky cynicism from shrinks, armchair philosophers, or newspaper columnists.”
Roddy said the older he got, the more aware he was that “Answer Men and Women” are the “nuts who blow people up.” And, he said, the heavy-hearted folks who confess “I don’t know” are the glue that hold the planet together.
In the wake of the Kerrville flooding, there will and has been love and support from people everywhere. Amid the rising waters and receding certainties, heroes have quietly emerged in Kerrville and will continue to do so. Some creeps have and will continue to cast political blame on people who have no blame. And the heavy-hearted folks like you and me are left wondering how this could happen, especially to those precious little children.
The faithful may find solace knowing we will eventually get a Heavenly front row seat and probably some really good snacks while God will answer many questions, including about the Texas flooding, perhaps through His divine PowerPoint or a celestial Q&A. Meanwhile, the faithless may be left with conspiracy theories, presumptions that Mother Nature had a bad day, and unanswered Google questions that no amount of refreshing can deliver answers.
But until the time of answers, I’m taking a page from Roddy and establishing a “Park of No Answers” for all us heavyhearted. We will have the same Roddy rules, except you can’t litter, and please pick up your dog’s business. Our park can be in your living room, your office, your closet, or maybe those in our county can share the Ronnie Van Zant Park on Sandridge Road. I don’t think Ronnie would mind. Although he wasn’t always the poster child for good behavior, he was raised a Christian, and the lyrics of some of his Lynyrd Skynyrd songs belie Christian philosophy. Those close to him say he was a believer, so he probably already has his answers and would be happy for us to ask our questions.
Ask your questions in solitude or stop by Ronnie’s park. Take a moment or two hours to sit at a picnic table and ask why those precious little children drowned and why their parents will have a heavy-heartedness that will never ever go away. You can ask why your child was taken or why God took your husband and left you alone and deeply sad, or if you did the right thing by taking your mother off life support after she suffered for 13 days.
There will be no answers. But just know that your questions will be placed in what I call your Eternal Mystery Folder, which God will be answering in due time. I’m going to Sandridge Road, climb the ladder and take a seat at the top of the slide, cast my eyes to the sky and ask my questions. Then, as a reminder, I’m also going to drop a few hints that I really, really like Krispy Kreme donuts.
If you feel inclined to help the victims of the flooding in Texas, a list of charities accepting relief donations can be found here.
Thanks for sharing the Susie!
Thanks Susie. I am going to read this a thousand times and share it because there are No Answers.!