hope

Today Joe and Laura's little boy, Ira, has been taken off the ECMO machine and is now on a ventilator. For the full story, if you don't know it already, you can check out Joe's blog, Brooklyn and Beyond.

I've had a hard time concentrating on anything pretty much all semester, and the past week or so has been intense. I've been glued to the computer, checking Joe's blog every half hour at least, and so have a lot of other people. I'm glad that so many people have been supporting the Hays and I think it's great that so many people have been commenting and praying and all that.

But oh, the asinine things people can say in the midst of tragedy.

I find myself clicking "post a comment" and staring a blank screen, without any way of putting into words the hope, the anxiety, the dread, the sympathy... I don't think I feel more than other people do, or that somehow my feelings are more refined or sensitive or correct. But I do think that other people don't hesitate over their words the way I find myself doing. And maybe that's good. Maybe if everyone hesitated like this, nothing would ever be said. And that too can be devastating.