a candle, a prayer, and a salute -- a love letter from an old hippy

My thoughts and sympathy go out to the families and friends of the people who lost their lives in the recent shootings on Seattle's Capitol Hill. I don't think anyone has the foggiest idea why the man with the guns did this awful thing, but I can see while it has broken a lot of good hearts, it has also brought an already close-knit community of young people even closer together. The reaction of the "ravers" (as the media likes to call them) to this horrifying and senseless event has been amazing to see; I cannot in my memory recall a community of people acting in a more dignified, mature manner, made even more admirable by their very youth. The rest of the world, in all its bitterness and vengeful ways, could learn a lot by simply taking the time to see past the wacky clothes and hair colors; there is a grace of thought and spirit here that is astounding.

I think it was Wednesday or Thursday of last week, after a multifaith service was held in front of the blue house, that the kids quietly packed up the massive memorial on the sidewalk, boxing up the mementos to give to the various families, distributing the hundreds of bouquets of flowers amongst family and friends, and cleaning up the entire area, down to scraping up the wax from the candles off the sidewalks. This community laps over into several other art and music scenes, and anybody who's familiar with "burners" can recognize the concept of leaving a place the way you find it.

And it seems, media hoopla aside, the city of Seattle -- from the mayor to the police force to city council -- realizes wisely that taking action to 'curb' the all ages dances is exactly the wrong thing to do. For once, we won't be punishing the victims by going draconian on them. I'm breathing a sigh of relief.

Peace to you kids...and all my love. You give me hope for the future.