Sometimes life is funny.  Sometimes life is cruddy or embarrassing but given time, we find humor in our situations.

But sometimes life just isn’t funny.  Sometimes things are so awful that to find any humor at all would be sacrilege.

I sat at my computer this morning for more than an hour, trying to come up with something that would be both humorous and tasteful, and I failed.  I am just not in a funny mood. 

A great cloud has been cast on America, an evil called terrorism.  We are learning how evil a man can be in a monster named Bin Laden who holds no sanctity for human life.  As the death toll rises, and the reality of what has happened sets in, I am stunned, sad, angry, numb, and in denial.

I watch the images of the World Trade Center towers collapsing, and it doesn’t seem real.  It looks like a movie.  The clouds of debris racing down the canyons of downtown New York could have come straight out of Raiders of the Lost Ark or Godzilla. 

I truly cannot imagine the horror of seeing this event unfold in person.  I cannot comprehend running for my life … we across America are somewhat sheltered from this reality.  Yes, we are outraged.  But we cannot begin to fathom the depths to which this act has touched the lives of the people who were there.  In many cases, they will never be able to sleep without the nightmare haunting them.

But I believe that out of everything, no matter how heinous, something good will come.  Sometimes we don’t see that good for days, months, years, or even generations.  But something good will come of this, too.

Already we are clinging to the shreds of stories of heroes and rescues.  Already the country is singing “God Bless America” again.  The cloud that has been cast is already beginning to break.

The sun will come out again.

Perhaps the good that will come will be the unity of our county.  Or the unity of the free world.  Perhaps this was the wake-up call we needed to show us how united we must be to overcome this tragedy.

Perhaps Americans will no longer be so patient with violent songs our children hear daily.  We have had our faces smeared with violence and the stench is unbearable.

Perhaps we will no longer be tolerant of all the haters and the fear they breed.  Is the hatred these gangs, white supremacists, and other groups show any different than that of Bin Laden?

Perhaps our teenagers will return to looking like people, without the Mohawks and body piercings.  Somehow that seems so wrong now.

Perhaps Americans will no longer be so reluctant to use the word “God” in the same sentence as “America”.  Many Americans, and indeed the world, have been deep in prayer since this tragic day.

Perhaps those who had no faith will find it. 

I have no doubt that something good will come of this.  It may not be this year, or even in my lifetime.

But the sun will shine again.