David, what a very beautiful description of life in our country, and a
very nice tribute to a fellow citizen (and by happenstance, a fellow
vanagon user).  Thank you for it.  David McNeely

On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 6:16 PM , David Beierl wrote:

> 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