Lord, how do people torture and kill children, women and men? I cannot understand the anger, the despair, the driven force which makes this happen. Perhaps because I have a stable, safe life in a loving family. I have felt desperate and strong passions, but have never been moved to see them in a killing pattern. I have been reading Louis de Bernieres’ Birds without Wings, with its intimate accounts of the wars leading to today’s Turkey. A character was led to believe in jihad, a holy war, and believed that to kill the enemy was to attain salvation with God. But it didn’t last for him, that belief. Confronted with the pain and fear and filth of war, he regained belief in the humanity of others. Just a fictional character, but can it be true? How do people use your love to commit acts of violence against others? I don’t really want to know. I cannot encompass this passion.But I pray for those who do. Amen.