I was walking this morning, as usual. A little girl was walking toward me, on her way to the bus stop. When she saw me, she bolted past me in a full run and didn’t stop until she was about 50 yards past me. She did return my greeting of “Good morning” as she hurried by in fright.

I imagine that a lot of parents have had the “stranger danger” talk since the recent horrific school shooting in Connecticut. What a stark contrast to the little girls I met on my walk last September, who had missed their bus and asked me if I had a car and could drive them to school!

It was sad to see a little girl frantically running past me, a middle aged lady taking her daily exercise. I hope we as a country, make something positive out of this tragedy as well as the problem of violence in our society. My Christmas wish is almost always for peace and this year is no exception.

Peace in our hearts.
Peace in our hands.
Peace for the world.