Terrible tragedies such as the Virginia Tech Massacre always spawn media blitzes seeking to place blame somewhere. Why do such horrors happen? Can it be that in our humanness, everyone doesn't have good life-coping skills? Everyone doesn't understand the concept of "anger management."

From the stress and frustration of our complicated world rises anger that, perhaps, drives one over the edge. I'm not excusing anyone for such a heinous act. I'm trying to understand it, to define it, and find ways to reach people, most especially those who need to find healthy ways to resolve their issues.

Something came to my attention a couple of days ago that brought all of this home for me. A friend's daughter broke off her engagement. Her fiance said something to her that she never wanted to hear from the man in her life: "When we argued and you walked out I almost decided to commit suicide."

A couple of days later the daughter told her mother that she and her ex were willing to be "just friends." The pair took off together to run some errands as "just friends." My friend worried the whole time they were gone.

"I know that most women who are murdered are killed by their husbands, boyfriends or ex's. Knowing that he told her he considered suicide..." She let her words hang between us.

It occurred to me: "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." I google-searched it. It is a poem by William Ross Wallace. You might do a google search for the line. It's well worth the time. I won't post it because of possible copyright infringement issues.

In working on an article about grandparents parenting grandchildren, it all seemed to come together, logical at least to me. Grandparents are making a difference...helping to mold and shape young children, to prepare them for their future roles in society. Thus, here's the latest article from the Senior Living site at BellaOnline.com.

A Crazy World
Many grandparents are putting their plans on hold to parent their grandchildren. It´s a monumental task, but someone´s got to do it. There are resources available to help.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art50456.asp

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Til next time, God bless us, every one.

~ Cathy

Cathy Brownfield, Senior Living Editor
http://seniorliving.bellaonline.com

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