I’m a bit emotional…sappy, you might say. Sometimes it humors my wife as we’re watching TV together and the dramatic tear-jerking scene (it can be anything really…even a commercial) reaches out extracting my heart from its proper place and lodging it in my throat.
I had one of those tearful moments as I drove to campus this morning. An NPR report came on the radio which involved a teen suicide cluster in Palo Alto, CA. You can find the actual report or even listen to it here.
Apparently, there have been four suicides at this particular commuter train railroad crossing in the past 6 months. What continued to capture my attention as I listened to the report was the response of the community and about 70 parents who began to volunteer for “Track Watch.”
I think this is a profound act of love and compassion…a true ‘standing in the gap’ for teens in this community who are tempted to solve temporary problems with a permanent solution. This is no miniscule effort on the part of these parents either, spending several hours at a time as guardians of such an abused place.
As my heart was aching for these students, parents, school, and community…I was also infused with hope. As we enter this season of Advent, I’m looking for glimmers of Gospel…and a bunch of parents guarding a railroad track until 1 AM every night looks like Gospel to me.
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