Pop, pop. Pop, pop. He was running, running for his life, never looking back to see where his bullets landed. He was scared, scared that he may have hit the wrong man and that his life was still in danger.
The next morning, a mother’s grief-stricken wails could be heard for miles around. Confirmation that he had, in fact, killed someone’s son. A young man walking, excited to celebrate his friend’s birthday next door.
Pop, pop. Pop, pop. He was viciously furious. “You stole it from me!” screamed an oversized dark figure on the other side of the parking lot.
Pop, pop. Pop, pop. His eyes dripped flames of fury, blinding him from everything but vengeance. He hardly noticed the innocent man in his path, carrying groceries to his car that would never make it home.
Glug, glug, glug, glug. The joy on his face was what scared her the most as she sat hog-tied in the backseat of her own mid-sized sedan. A wild-eyed stranger soaked everything in kerosene.
His sardonic laughter and the flammable liquid seeping through her pores made her want to vomit.
One strike of a match and he ran back to watch what he considered a masterpiece. He breathed deeply. The sweet aroma of rotting flesh had always been his favorite.
In his own rapturous pleasure, he forgot to consider who was consumed by those flames he found so beautiful.
She was someone’s sister, someone’s friend, someone’s teacher. She was someone’s hope.
They sat in the shadows waiting, feeling absolutely reverent. They were convinced that this was the only way their distant God would accept them into paradise. He had charged them with the honorable task of ridding this world of evil. What they were about to do was the definition of nobility.
Hundreds of people walked across the bridge. Some lip-locked lovers. Others holding the hand of a best friend they’ve missed after a long trip abroad. Still others arguing with their numerous brothers and sisters. Some simply wanting to get some fresh air after a long morning at work.
It was a scene of tranquility. Not one of them had any inkling that an attempt would be made on their lives. None of them imagined that they would stand witness to any horror on such a bright, balmy day.
He was in agony. He couldn’t breathe. The walls that were his life began to close in and suffocate him. He walked out of the building in a panic. How would he go on without the one thing that gave him purpose? How could he live without the job he had dreamed of for so long?
He snapped. Pop, pop, pop! In a single moment, he lost his identity. In a single moment of uncontrollable anxiety, he lost his life. Because of this one moment of hopelessness, others returning from their lunch break never made it back to their desks.
Stories like this seem to be the theme of my week. Each time I hear one of these tragic stories it strikes me how easy it is for anyone to get caught in the crossfire.
None of these people intentionally put themselves in harm’s way. Each instance occurred during life’s normal routine.
It’s hard not to think how easily it could’ve been you or me as the attacker or the victim in any of those scenarios.
If my life had gone a slightly different direction and I ended up in a gang because I thought that was the only way to survive. If you then pulled into your parking spot at just the right moment. It might’ve been you getting in the way of my bullet in the middle of a drug deal gone wrong.
It’s easy for us all to get caught in the figurative and literal crossfire. Some of us choose to be there because we feel it’s our only option. Others of us go about our business and bullets and blades come at us without warning.
I write this not to create paranoia. I write this because I want us all the realize that everyone’s life is a diamond.
Everyone’s life is precious, rare and needs to be handled with care. We don’t know how each one was formed, cut and placed in its band.
No one knows what one polishing act of mercy or loving word might do. It could prevent tragedy or allow someone to die knowing at least one person will care that they’re gone.
Some people don’t realize how precious they are, others are afraid of their shine, others simply need to be reminded that they sparkle.
I challenge you to uncover the diamond in yourself and those around you today. Uncover the diamonds everywhere you walk because you never know… you just never know.
