Sharing My Birthday with a National Tragedy

Fifty years ago today, I joined the nation in a time of great consternation.  However, mine was a little different.  My biggest concern was whether I was still going to have my 7^th birthday party. From that day on John F. Kennedy and I have been intrinsically linked, though I barely knew the man. 

Every year, my birthday is colored, at least at some point, by grainy black and white television images of beautiful people riding in cars in Dallas, Texas, in 1963, and the mass chaos suddenly ensuing.  Obviously this year, we’ve been seeing a lot of those images and hearing a lot about the chaos and tragedy that wrenched a nation and changed its course as we mark the 50^th anniversary of JFK’s assassination.

I did have my birthday party.  My parents (wisely, I might add) decided that 7 year olds would not really understand the circumstances that were rocking their parents’ world.  I remember the moments of uncertainty my mother had over the propriety of an immediately post-assassination birthday party. She may have even consulted by phone with other parents.  But, soon, our house was alive with excited 7 year olds, party favors, ice cream and cake.  My world was back on track.

I wonder how many children will share their birthdays with memories of killer tornadoes ripping through Illinois this last week? In many places there is no option for parties to continue.  I saw a video on the news following the typhoon in the Philippines of a mother holding a tiny infant.  The infant had just been born the night before the typhoon hit.  Now, she cradled her newborn in a dark hut without electricity, food or water.  For those, just to be alive is a birthday present.     

We try our best to shield our children from the harsh and tragic realities they can’t possibly understand.  What is most important for our children is fending off some of the depths of pain, injustice and wrenching tragedy that is part and parcel of human life for as long as possible.  Sometimes, we are able to do it successfully, like my parents deciding to continue with my birthday festivities even as one of the greatest tragedies of our nation was unfolding.  For others, it is not so easy or even an option.    

 

Today, I pray that the Pilipino newborn is finding a way by God’s grace to survive, and that all she has accompanying her birthday from year to year are the annual TV newscasts and family stories of the Great Typhoon of 2013 that welcomed her into this bittersweet world.

 

Today, I pray for the children who have lost homes and belongings and security to disasters that rip through their lives, shaping them with fears, convictions, and values for years to come.

 

Today, I pray for the children who have lost loved ones, parents, guardians, and protectors in the midst of tragedy – whether they are presidential families, or  middle class 7 year olds, or those who live in inner-city drug and violence-infested areas, or those in areas of the world prone to war, terror or natural disasters.

 

Today, I pray for the children who suffer from the hands of adults who don’t shield them, and may even perpetrate the tragedies in their lives that will give them wounds to haunt them in their future. I pray that those wounds, by God's grace, will somehow be a source of healing and deepening of compassion, and not just tragic devastation.

 

Today, on my birthday, I am grateful to be alive. Even in such as world as ours, even with its pain and tragedy...it is still a great birthday present.