In Memoriam

In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares. 

                                                         -- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln was writing a letter of condolence to the daughter of a close friend who had been killed in a battle in Mississippi during the Civil War. I chose this quote because I have been thinking this week mostly of the young children of those who perished, and wondering whether what was incomprehensible to them ten years ago is now more easily understood. I suspect it is not. Here is the link to the correspondence: Letter to Fanny McCullough, December 23, 1862