The loss of life from the collapse of the bridge over the Mississippi River last week reminded me of the fragility of our existence. We all know that we are not promised tomorrow, or even our next breath, yet we fail to comprehend it until tragedies such as these strike.

News reports from the scene revealed the shocked looks of surviving victims, family members and rescue workers as they attempted to make some sense of a senseless disaster that no one expected would ever occur. Traveling that bridge was a daily occurrence for most of them. And they, like most of us, just assumed that the roads and bridges they traveled were safe. Unfortunately, that was not the case in this incident and innocent lives were lost and countless others were injured.

It is at times like this that we often find ourselves asking, "Why?" I do not pretend to have the answer. There are many things in this life that defy explanations. That does not mean, however, that there are none, only that the meanings of these events are unfathomable by our human interpretative abilities.

I like to think of our lives as a patchwork quilt that we are sewing patch-by-patch every day. We cannot see the final design, only the piece with which we are working. But, someday all the patches will come together in one beautiful design that will make perfect sense to all of us. What a day that will be!

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Once again, please remember our deadlines for submitting news copy. The ONLY items we accept on Mondays are obituaries, church news and date book items. All other news items are due on Fridays.

Classifieds and legal ads are accepted until 11 a.m. and block ads until noon.

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Happy birthday this week to: Jessica Herrmann, Donna Chance, Roger Black, Colin Chance, Evie Wiggins, Jeanette Becton, Rose Hill, Art Johnson and Martha Edwards.

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Celebrating wedding anniversaries this week are: Mr. and Mrs. Bill Landrum and Mr. and Mrs. James A. Knight Sr.

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Military Active Duty List: Airman First Class Charles S. Woods, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas; Capt. Andrew P. Thomas, U.S. Marines, 2nd Marine Division, F.A.S.T. Company, Bahrain, Persian Gulf; Stuart Burrus, U.S. Air Force, BAFB, LA; SPC 4 Travis D. Motes, 1st Calvary Division, Camp Taji, Iraq; Capt. Donald Slade Burke, Travis Air Force Base, Fairfield, Calif.; SPC Grade E4 Arthur Lamont Milton Jr., HHC 1-36 Infantry Support, Friedberg, Germany; Staff Sgt. Gilbert C. Sheppard III, 48th Brigade, 118th Field Artillery, Ft. Stewart; Petty Officer 2nd Class Jamie A. Yager, U.S. Navy, Maryland; Petty Chief Officer Andy D. Crosby, U.S. Navy, Elroy Destroyer, Norfolk, Va.; Stephanie Crosby, R.N., U.S. Navy, Lafayette Destroyer; LCPL Dwain "Cade" Lee, 1st Marine Division Combat Service Support Group II Security Element, ArRamadi, Iraq; Jimmy Cooper, U.S. Army National Guard, 878th Engineering Battalion-Augusta, Persian Gulf ; 1st Lt. J.R. Taylor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Iraq; SPC. Daniel Stuart, 18th MEDCOM, 121 General Hospital, Seoul, Korea; Sgt. 1st Class Steven Yager, 362nd Sig. Company, Korea; MM3 Jeffrey Sweat, U.S. Navy, USS Kauffman, MM3 59/E-Division, A-Gang, Norfolk, Va.; Cpl. Larry Lamont Clark, U.S. Marine Corp, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. Bagdad, Iraq; Khan Young, U.S. Navy, U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, Persian Gulf; Robert Milton Jr., E-3, U.S. Army, Ft. Stewart, Hinesville, Ga., Mission Kuwait; SFC Ronnie Perryman, E-7, Georgia Army National Guard, Battery A, 118th Field Artillery Regiment, 48th Brigade Combat Team; Arnold R. Mosley, 2nd Lt., U.S. Air Force, Randolph AFB, Texas; and Debra A. Mosley, Tech. Sgt., U.S. Air Force, Randolph AFB, Texas.