Cyber-Bullying
by Guest Blogger Doug Hutchcraft

Another day, another news story that ends tragically for a bullied young person.

This time, her name was Carolina Picchio. An attractive, outgoing 14-year-old Italian girl that made the mistake of posting a video of herself on Facebook where she was drunk. Her ex-boyfriend and “friends” used social media to ridicule, demean, and bully her. Soon after, Carolina took her own life…but not before crying for help multiple times on her Facebook page.

When Healing Seems Impossible
by Guest Blogger Doug Hutchcraft

This is probably not the first or last article you’ll read about the George Zimmerman trial. The questions and confusion can be maddening: Was the shooting racially motivated? Was it self-defense? Sadly, we will probably never know the vital details of that night.

Okay, I'm admitting it. I wore my Superman t-shirt to sleep in last night. That's about as close to being Superman as I'll get.

I sometimes have trouble opening a jar. I doubt I could bend steel in my bare hands. As far as leaping tall buildings in a single bound - I have trouble getting up off the floor.

But with the new "Man of Steel" movie rocking the box office, Superman is popping up - or landing - all over the place.

Folks keep burying Tim Tebow. But he keeps coming back.

Six weeks ago, the likeable but controversial quarterback was summarily cut by the New York Jets. And no other NFL team signed him. Game over.

Bingo. Suddenly he's been signed by the New England Patriots. He still has to earn a spot, but at least for now, the Comeback Kid has come back again.

Our sons were - and are - crazy about baseball. Now our grandsons are. They know the players, the standings, the stats. Crazy about baseball.

But dark clouds have again rolled in over America's baseball stadiums. With reports that some stars - kids' heroes - cheated to be great.

PED are not the initials for some new government program. It's a performance-enhancing steroid. Yes, it's against the rules of baseball to have it in your system. But, hey, it's all about winning, right? And, besides, I'm a star and the rules don't really apply to me, right?

I saw the movie "Twister." It was hair-raising. Even for a guy with not much hair to raise. But I kept telling myself, "It's just a story. Special effects."

What happened to the Weather Channel's Mike Bettes last week wasn't some computer-generated fantasy. The tornado they were chasing took an unexpected turn, picked up their vehicle and threw it some 200 yards.

The vehicle was flattened. Thankfully, Mike and his crew weren't. Some scratches, a couple of broken bones - but, amazingly, they're alive.

Our friend Ruthie loves crossword puzzles. And she hates bridges. So when she's riding with us and there's a bridge, she knows what to do. She covers her face with her crossword puzzle book until it's over.

I've teased Ruthie about this a lot. But after two bridges in a week collapsed in different parts of the U.S., I'm wondering if I should buy a crossword puzzle book. Oh wait - I'm driving.

It's really not funny. One minute you're on the bridge. The next minute you and your car are in the icy water below. Thankfully, no one died on those bridges in Washington or Missouri last week. But when that Interstate bridge in Minneapolis caved in awhile back, it cost 13 people their lives.

Our friend Ruthie loves crossword puzzles. And she hates bridges. So when she's riding with us and there's a bridge, she knows what to do. She covers her face with her crossword puzzle book til it's over.

I've teased Ruthie about this a lot. But after two bridges in a week collapsed in different parts of the U.S., I'm wondering if I should buy a crossword puzzle book. Oh wait - I'm driving.

Even the reporters are choked up. What the monster tornado tore up in Moore, Oklahoma is tearing at our hearts.

Houses gone. Neighborhoods gone. Schools gone. Children. Gone.

People wandering the streets "like zombies," trying to figure out where their house was. Parents waiting in the mud, looking for some shred of hope that their child is somehow alive beneath the rubble of their school. Children in shelters, wondering if they'll ever see their parents again.

Even the reporters are choked up. What the monster tornado tore up in Moore, Oklahoma is tearing at our hearts.

Houses gone. Neighborhoods gone. Schools gone. Children. Gone.

People wandering the streets "like zombies," trying to figure out where their house was. Parents waiting in the mud, looking for some shred of hope that their child is somehow alive beneath the rubble of their school. Children in shelters, wondering if they'll ever see their parents again.

The photos, the stories, the video images - they defy words. Some of them have struck a pretty deep chord in my heart.

Like the team from Joplin, Missouri, hurrying to help people in a way only they can. Two years ago, it was part of their town that vanished in the deadliest twister ever. They know how having your world erased in a moment feels.

It's strange. The worst things that happen to us become the compassion and comfort we have to treat other wounded people. Those who've been hurt become heroes of healing for others who are bleeding.

Somehow our pain has meaning when we can use it rebuild someone else's life. I call it crud-entials. How the crud of your life qualifies you to help a hurting world.

I was touched, too, by the directive given by the rescuers at the leveled Plaza Towers Elementary School. Knowing there were children in that rubble, the first responders asked everyone to be quiet. "So we can listen for voices."

That's what I want to be better at. Stopping the chatter so I can listen for the voices of people in trouble.

They're all around us. If we have ears to hear their cries.