by Len Gengel

There are many tragedies in this world that make us hold our breath and say why?  The Cowardly act of many terrorist in Paris the other day will be a day that will be on our minds for many decades to come.  The 129 victims and their families will never be the same, the tragedy will change the way they know life, it is a devastating time for all of humanity.  Many of us went to church today and prayed for peace or maybe just thought about it and offered some good thoughts to those poor souls, it’s the right thing to do.  Our family would have never gotten thru our tragedy if it wasn’t for our family, friends, relatives, strangers and all of you, the compassion we felt helped us get out of bed every day and put our feet on the ground!  We had many people from the 911 tragedy email or call us, they wanted to share their thoughts, we didn’t respond well because we were in shock.  The people of Paris are in shock right now, they feel lost, scared, asking will life ever be the same.  Sadly it won’t, they will have to learn to live without their loved one and it will be horrible surreal.  

With CNN and other international news stations we almost feel like it’s in our own back yard.  We can empathize with Parisians, we had our 911, we all stopped working and prayed in disbelief.  The blame game will start and the media has to find the Cowards and what faction they are tied too.  What does that mean to us as a society, well I would think we will go thru the grieving process as the funerals start.  We will watch as the President of France and all it’s allies rally around a strategy to try and stop these Cowardly acts.  Will it mean more wars?  Violence?  Innocent people being killed by people filled with Hate?  Personally I will wait and see what the Pope does and then says, he is a leader with the most compassion!  What will I tell my children in Haiti?  They have grown up in a world filled with Poverty, those surviving day by day don’t have the worry of the bigger worldly problems.  But as their father we have to find a teaching moment in this horrific tragedy, as it could have been one of our own in Paris as Haiti was a French Colony and uses French as its official language.  We have 2 flights to Paris a week from Haiti, we are connected by our cultures and language.  

Maybe we can teach our children how to be global citizens by praying for those in Paris?  Our kids need to feel compassion from all of us, that’s how they learn, not what we say but what we do!  I love the innocents of children and so didn’t Britney, she felt it when she was in Haiti, it changed her life and it changed all 66 children’s lives, Compassion!  In closing I would like to ask all of you reading this to Pray for Paris and maybe you could recite the Lord’s Prayer?   

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Thank you for helping us help the children of Haiti at Be Like Brit!!!

Papi Len