[Magdalen] Las Vegas shooting

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I was going to the grocery store to pick up a few items, and, thinking it
would be a good idea not to do this on an empty stomach, I stopped at the
Dunkin Donuts which is co-located with the grocery store. Dunkin has this
neat idea that they use a whole cluster of flat screen displays on which
they both put their menus and a continuous feed of news channels. I picked
up a coffee and a sandwich,  had just finished and was walking out when I
glanced at the screen and saw a crawl on the bottom about some "Las Vegas
massacre." I initially thought something like it must be about some
dreadful new show, and was about to leave, but something stopped me, and I
took another look, and realized something had definitely happened. I was
thinking I had to turn on the TV when I got home, and then I realized I
have a smartphone, and so I got in my car and turned my phone to google.
Under "Las Vegas news," I soon found several potential sites with just
about the same thing. Yes, something dreadful HAD happened. I was astounded
at the death toll. How is that even possible?
I turned off my phone and started my car to drive the short distance to the
grocery store. I was tuned to Sirius channel 76, and the announcer stated
that there were no words to respond to the horror that happened in Las
Vegas. She was putting on a piece, she said, for herself, as she could find
no words, and perhaps for the millions of others listening in who also
could find no words.
The piece she chose was "Mercy," by Max Richter, a composition for violin
and piano. Hilary Hahn was the soloist.
I felt it was like a gently cleansing liturgy; music steps in where words
fail. How many others had that same reaction, I wondered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kk-FJe43Aw

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy