I opened a conversation a couple of posts back regarding the murder of 8 year old Sofia. Today comes an opportunity for many members of the community to start moving towards closure and healing with a flower laying ceremony happening at the shopping centre where Sofia’s life was taken.
Carey Baptist College , where Sofia’s brother attends school, has arranged the ceremony and they have bussed hundreds of students to the shopping centre to lay flowers.
The first thing I did today during my radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM was to speak to Principal of the college, Des Mitchell, about the way the school is coping with the tragedy and about the ceremony. At the time he was watching hundreds of people flooding in to the shopping centre to be part of the service. He said that this was one way in which people could reclaim their community.
This simple act is sending out the message that we can not and will not let evil overcome good. While we can’t help being touched and affected by what has happened this week, this one horrific act will not dictate the way we live our lives from this point on.
Posted by Rodney Olsen
Technorati Tags: Healing – Tragedy – Radio
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Thanks for blogging about it. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I just held onto my kids hands extra tight in the shopping centre yesterday, and wondered if Sofia’s mother has gone insane yet.
I can’t be there, so I will lay a vitrtual flower.
My prayers are with the family and all those affected by this.
hey rodney, thanks for your support. The Carey community has been deeply affected, but i believe the show of compassion, empathy and strength by our students today sends a stong message that evil will not dominate our lives, and that good will prevail. I know it sounds corny, but if you were there and saw the locals just standing blankly, not knowing why they are there but needing something, it was really incredible.
We as a staff team have been run off our feet with not only the pain that has arisen by this incident, but the feeling of overwhelming hopelessness it has brought on. That is why today was important, to give back hope, to give back strength and courage.