Somebody out there gets it
And gets it way better than most of us.

Quick setup: Here in my hometown, a man went nuts and killed two of his four children, in very public ways. He threw two in a pond and, a day later, drove his car carrying the other two into the path of an oncoming semi. One child died in each incident; the father died in the car wreck, as was his intention, as laid out in the suicide note found on the passenger's seat of the car.

I wrote:
It's not going to do any good for me to write what I think should become of this subhuman monster's soul.

Somebody went me one better. She came up with some ideas that might actually do some good. She shared them in a guest column which appeared in today's local newspaper, as follows, edited to avoid naming names:

I wanted to give in to the anger that [a local columnist] expressed in his column the other day. The easiest answer is for us to turn our sorrow against this man. But then, after my sleepless night, it came to me. What if, instead of hurling our anger and sorrow at this deeply disturbed person, we took those emotions and used them for something good?

What if everyone who read the story committed themselves to helping a family in crisis this month?

What if we baby-sat for that stressed-out mother next door?

What if we bought a gift certificate from a Target Superstore for a family whose father was laid off to ease the burden of providing for so many little people?

What if we called that man or woman in the midst of a failing marriage and asked them to lunch or breakfast?

What if we took the kids of a family in crisis out to the movies?

What if we volunteered at a shelter?

What if we told the children in our classroom that we cared about them and that we were there for them if they needed it?

What if we took five minutes out of our day and prayed for that family in crisis that lives across the street?

What if we sent an encouraging e-mail or card to that person in pain?

What if we made it easier for those who are hurting to reach out for help?

What if [the local columnist] wrote a column that listed all of the services in [our city] and Internet resources and books that could help another father or mother out there in quiet agony before it is too late?

What if the [local newspaper] wrote a series highlighting these services?

We can all honor their precious lives by committing ourselves to one action in the next few weeks that would bring relief to a family in crisis.

Well put. Wish I had said it first.