Beauty and the Beast

I grew up in a town called Paramus, N. J. , a post World War II  sea of tract homes that was paradise for waves of GIs coming home and removing themselves from the crowded cities of the East Coast. It was and remains a wonderful suburban New York community.  Even in spite of the wall to wall shopping malls.  Paramus produced some real solid citizens out of those post war pairings and homes. It still does, it has a school system that rivals few others in its singular ability to educate children of the middle class.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/071712_Hundreds_gather_for_funeral_of_Paramus_grad_killed_in_Pennsylvania_hit-and-run.html

When I see a newspaper article mentioning a son or daughter of Paramus , I am drawn to it like a moth to flame.  This day I read a story of the 2010 Paramus High School Valedictorian.  A young woman who was a talented athlete and who had gone on to a University in the middle of the country where she continued to run track and cross country.  She was by all accounts a special scholar and a special friend to all.  She was destined to great things.  But they will not come about.

For in an inexplicable serendipitous fateful alignment she dies.  When beauty and love met chaos and disorder, the latter prevailed and she died.  I can't explain it, can't fathom it and will never quite understand it, except to say that there are things that are not meant to be understood.

The young lady was jogging on a road in Pennsylvania , in the country, the quiet countryside.  It was early in the morning. 

A single truck came barreling down the road, crossed over the shoulder line and struck and killed her.  At the wheel was a man who according to accounts should have been in lock up, and whose license to drive was suspended more than 20 times .  Who had recently brandished an ax and threatened people.  Whose scrapes with the law  were legion.  He was chaos and disorder and assuredly should not have been allowed at large.  He is the beast in our midst.

We have many chaotic personalities running amok amongst us, for one reason or another.  I do not so much fear them as I feel for the victims of their brand of disorder.  Institutionally we are not addressing the issue. We leave that to the victims families to sort out and do not do much about prevention.  This man was probably severely mentally ill in my opinion.  No one saw the elements or the potential and that is something we need to better grasp as more and more of these people sucumb to the unrelenting problems of their lives.

As for beauty, love and grace I hope that it grows in the young ladies memory and that her family can accept their sorrow.  I too share a small measure of that sorrow today.