IN MEMORY OF THE FAIRPORT FIVE
I believe in a God who watches over and protects his children, even when he takes them home – even when he takes them away from us.
I believe that a life is best remembered for how it was lived, not for how it ended.
I believe that our pain is a direct and proportional reflection of our loss, that the more keenly we loved the more profoundly we will grieve.
But ultimately I believe that love is measured in smiles, not tears – joys, not sorrows.
I believe the best monument is not a headstone, but a memory. The memory of sunny days and happy times. Of the first day of school and of Christmas morning, family vacations and personal triumphs. Learning to read and ride a bike, cards for Fathers Day and corsages from the prom.
I believe that we never walk alone.
I believe that on the darkest day, when we feel that we have been abandoned, when we feel that our hope is gone and our future is meaningless, I believe that even on that day – maybe especially on that day – we are loved, and watched, and protected.
I believe our neighbor is our brother, that he weeps with us and pulls for us. He awakens in the night to pray for our peace – even if we’ve never met him, even if we never will.
I believe in a school and a town that will be remembered not for sorrow but for strength. Not just for how they mourned, but for how they stood strong and stood together, for how they made the Class of 2007 mean something, now and for decades to come.
I believe that they lived for a reason.
I believe that in 17 or 18 years they touched who they were sent here to touch, they did what they were sent here to do, they accomplished the good they were born to accomplish.
I believe they were born into this place and this time and these homes to teach and to learn, to bless and to be blessed -- to share love and light with family and friends.
I believe in a God who knows what it is like to see his child die.
I believe in a God who comforts the comfortless, who gives faith to those who fear, strength to those who waver, light to those who are in the dark.
And I believe we will get through this.
I believe the goodness of these young women and their families and their school will lead us all out of a very dark time. I believe we will smile and laugh and rejoice again. I believe we are better for knowing them, better for loving them, better for mourning their loss.
I believe they live. In our hearts, and in God’s heaven. And I believe their loved ones will see them again.
I believe in a God who watches over and protects his children, even when he takes them home – even when he takes them away from us.
- by Bob Lonsberry © 2012
