Last Sunday at church, teachers and adult volunteers invited young worshippers to write “big wonderings” and share them. Many questions were about animals: Why do lions have manes? Why do dolphins jump? Why are turtles green? Another child wanted to know why grass is green. Still another asked why the sun is yellow. I was amused by one child’s wondering, “Why do grown-ups take away the fun?” Another question touched my heart: “Why do I cry?”
On Wednesday, I cried at the news of the school shooting at a church in Minneapolis. I cried in grief for the children and their families, but I also had tears of anger. Why do these school shootings keep happening?! I don’t know why.
I have read news reports about heroic actions by faculty and staff, who pulled students to the floor and covered kids with their bodies. These actions provide new meaning to the ancient teaching that there is no greater love than to lay down your life for another.
And I read that the church pews shielded adults and children from the ricocheting bullets.
I wonder about those wooden pews. Who crafted the pews, and which types of trees were used to make them? How did they come to be at that church? I wonder how many people have sat on them over the years and asked big questions. I wonder how many people have cried in those pews and how many more will weep.
It is incomprehensible why such an event, which the school principal described as “unspeakable,” should occur. However, it is a wonder that those old pews saved lives, and I wonder if they will continue to support people in their efforts to make our communities kinder, more compassionate, and more loving in the days, weeks, and years ahead. A place to sit and cry can then lead to a decision to act. To me, that constitutes prayer for a better, safer world. We have to start somewhere; we have to start sometime.
I wonder if, one day, a child will again sit on one of the wonder-pews and daydream about the green of turtles and the yellow of sun.
Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of the book with Wipf and Stock Publishers titled This Is the Day: A Year of Observing Unofficial Holidays about Ampersands, Bobbleheads, Buttons, Cousins, Hairball Awareness, Humbugs, Serendipity, Star Wars, Teenagers, Tenderness, Walking to School, Yo-Yos, and More. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he is a student of joy.
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