LETTERS: VANDALISM A REMINDER OF LOVE, PEACE

To the editor:

I would like to publicly thank the vandals who took time from their hectic holiday schedule to demolish our Christmas display in the Jackson City Park.

If I knew who you were, I'd like to extend the right hand of fellowship, although until my anger dissipates I fear my hand might be a fist. Your senseless and insensitive act insults even the most callous person.

I'm sorry that our project, which took us four weeks to complete, likely only provided you with five or 10 seconds of entertainment.

It's hard to imagine the emptiness in your heart that moves you to find perverse enjoyment in such actions. You deserve pity, not anger.

Yet I'm grateful. You have reminded me that the world is still a cruel and violent place. Just when I thought Christmas is the perfect time of year, your actions bring me to the sobering reality that the world still has a dying need for a savior. Jesus truly is the reason for the season. Jesus came to save sinners like you and me. That reality gives me the capacity to forgive you.

Even during a season where warmth and goodwill prevail, it surprises me that there are still people like you immune to goodness and charity. Yet just as Dr. Seuss shares how the Grinch couldn't steal Christmas, Jesus gives us hope that love, peace and joy are stronger than hate and cruelty.

The REV. GRANT F.C. GILLARD, Pastor

First Presbyterian Church

Jackson