Mark Dearing wrote:
>That never happened. She
>was a  very sweet and beauitful girl  later  Mark  dearing

I think that in general it's impossible to live fully without some
willingness to die in the process, just as I believe it's necessary
for children to mature properly, that they be exposed to a certain
amount of risk.  Where to draw the line both for ourselves and our
children, and how to prepare ourselves for risks are matters of
individual decision, and the range of decisions is wide.

Kristen's murder is of course a tragedy for those who knew her, and
it makes us here on the list shudder.  She was in the wrong place at
the wrong time, and she died, and we all can very easily put
ourselves into her place because she was driving one our buses and we
got to know her a little bit before her trip.

But she was relying on our social contract, which these days expects
that ordinary citizens can go about their lawful business without
being armed, with attack dogs or otherwise; and it's really
remarkable how well that contract works.  If it didn't none of us
would sleep in rest stops, or anywhere else that wasn't behind a
barred door backed up with weapons.  So on the one hand we as a
society failed her; and on the other we as a society know that no
such contract can be perfect since it relies on imperfect
humans.  And in that sense Kristen's death was part of the inevitable
wastage at the edges.  In a sense she died so that the rest of us might live.

Yours,
David