LETTERS: HEARTFELT MESSAGE OF HOPE OFFERED

To the editor:

The following was read to the families and friends of Cape Central Junior High School students during the school's regular holiday program. Kathi Fish, president of our PTA at CJHS, expressed her feelings from her heart that night and said what many of the parents, including myself, feel at this time. Kathi gave permission to have this published:

I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me

"In light of what has happened this week, I would like to say I don't know what is politically correct for me to talk about and not to talk about. I don't know what PTA means to you. But to me it means parents and teachers working together for the good of our children. A good speaker would never read verbatim, but I don't claim to be a good speaker, so I wrote my thoughts down to avoid jumbling them up. I am going to read them.

"Tragedy has come too close to home. In a school very much like our, a troubled boy the age of many of our students walks in the halls of Heath High and takes three innocent young lives. Parents, we have students among us who are hurting and troubled. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. I only allows it to go the extreme, as in Paducah, Ky., on Monday morning.

"I've had a few calls this week from parents on another issue that you may or may not be aware of. There is a lot of talk among the kids about a theory predicting devastation after the turn of the year and that the world is about to come to an end. However ridiculous that seems in your mind, to some of them it is real. Many of our students are questioning, and they are frightened. But let me tell you that I can stand before you and say that my daughter is not troubled over this issue for one reason. She has complete assurance that `he who is in her is greater than he who is in the world.' Please know that I don't say that in a bragging way. I say it to convey to you that there is comfort in knowledge of the truth.

"Because of an event some 2,000 years ago -- the reason we celebrate this season -- we have hope that we can rest in. Parents, our kids have concerns, and they are very real ones whether it is over witchcraft that is prevalent in our schools, the possibility of being shot or that the world is coming to an end. I believe our greatest obligation on this earth is to help our kids find the truth and assurance that they desperately need today. We have to ask and search and not give up until they find it. We cannot be silent and passive about important issues. We are their leaders and advocates.

"I can't possibly know all the problems in each life of our students, but my most heartfelt prayer is that all of them and you have the hope I have and that my daughter has, only because on that Christmas so long ago we were given the gift of life, giving us hope through him. God bless you all, and Merry Christmas."

Thank you, Kathi, from myself and the many other parents who have the same feelings. We thank you for your words and know through him that we shall overcome.

KATHIE BRENNAN

Cape Girardeau