Seriously. Hurtfully. Hatefully. Wrong.

There is something extremely horribly wrong with a society in which children are not safe in their schools and adults are not safe in their churches.

The news this morning from Charleston, South Carolina is just devastating.  Nine people were killed as they sat in their church for a bible-study discussion. Senseless. Ridiculously senseless and no explanation whatsoever could ever, ever justify such a violent act. As I type, the police (and everyone else, probably) are looking for the young man who walked into that church with a gun.

We have been to Charleston, and it's a beautiful city, beautiful beyond belief, and it seemed so tranquil and lost in time. People there were friendly and hospitable and happy to say hello to strangers. And all it takes to make that atmosphere disappear is one man with a gun.  And not only has he succeeded in killing the pastor of that church and eight of the parishioners, he has killed the sanctity of that city as well.

Charleston will get that sense of safety and tranquility back, in time, simply because the residents there will come to terms with the fact that one violent man with a gun doesn't define the population. But the fact remains that this bloodstained senseless day will live on forever in the history of that beautiful city.  My heart just breaks for the good people of Charleston, and especially for all of the members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.