A year ago today, my Salvadoran friend Jorge was murdered by a gang member. My thoughts and prayers are with his family especially today and I ask that you join in praying. Please pray for Jorge's family and for all the people around the world whose lives he touched. As we remember Jorge and his death, keep other Salvadorans in your prayers who have lived through and continue to live through similar tragedies. Pray for peace where there is violence, pray for love where there is hatred, and pray for healing where there are wounds.
Today is a sad day in many ways. I mourn the loss of a loving and caring man who lived life to the fullest. I grieve for Jorge's family who struggles in many ways to live without him. I think of the many kids who Jorge treated and cared for as a father, even those who weren't his biologically. I struggle to understand the loss of innocent life. Beyond Jorge and his family, today has made me think more about the violence in El Salvador than I normally do. I mourn the loss of the people who are killed everyday in El Salvador because of violence, the violence of gangs and the violence of poverty.
But I'm also trying very hard (yet not being very successful) to remember Jorge's life and the blessings he was given and the blessings he gave. I'm trying to think about his life and his eternal life, and I'm trying to find the silver lining of this very dark cloud. But no matter how hard I try to focus on life and blessings, the violent images of his death overtake my mind and weigh down my heart.
I wanted to be able to spend the day thinking about the life and love of Jorge, yet the dark, violent images of his death have dominated my mind most of the day. I’m not really sure why it is, but I have very vivid images of Jorge’s death. I have heard multiple times the story of how he was killed and we drove past the spot where he was killed a few times when I was there this summer. I guess the images have formed in my mind from hearing the story and being in the place.
Today, even when I was able to remember and cherish the good memories I have of Jorge, the trail of memories going through my mind always ended in the vivid image of his death. The power of death and violence is strong and controlling- death and the violence of Jorge’s death have come to define the way I remember Jorge. It seems even I, a person desperately searching for peace, cannot overcome the power of violence. But that’s not the way I want it to be and that’s not the way that Jorge or anyone else would want Jorge to be remembered. I’m not sure that it would be possible to separate the memory of Jorge from his death, and this isn’t something that we would want to do. But I (and maybe others who are also mourning Jorge’s death on this day) need to think about the power I am giving to violence when I let violence define someone who graciously loved others and life.
In reality love is so much more powerful than anything else. Just look at the ultimate expression of love: God sending God’s only son to die for the salvation of all. This act of love has overcome a LOT of violence including Jorge’s death. Even though I might know this intellectually, love just didn’t seem to be the force that dominated my thoughts and feelings today. The good news is, God willing, I will have another day tomorrow to try to focus on love, life, and peace rather than violence.
