My Part of the Ceiling

     Recently a young friend was questioning why bad things were happening in her life.  Why did her beloved mother, who had had cancer surgery in the summer, now get an unfavorable  test result and how come she herself seemed to have such crummy luck lately.  We all at some time or other have played the Why Me Game.  I could play it, Why did I get lung cancer when I never smoked?  Why did our oldest child have learning disabilities and die at age thirty eight?  Insert here,  your "Why Me" Question.
     I bring this up today, because on December 1, 1958, a Catholic Grade School on the west side of Chicago caught on fire and eighty nine children and three religious Sisters died in the fire.  I remember how devastated all of us were.   How could this happen to kids at a Catholic School?  Leah was just a little over a year old, Lora was three months old - and I was probably already pregnant with Alissa - and we considered that some day they too would be "out in the big world" and we were grateful that as young as they were, they were safe. 
      That Sunday, at Mass, in his homily, Father said that so many were asking Why, Why, Why?  He said he couldn't answer why and he gave the analogy that  it is like an ant crawling across the magnificent ceiling in the Sistine Chapel.  It only sees what it is moving over.  We don't know the "big picture", but just our experience.
      You can see that his words have stayed with me all these years and when something happens that is unexplainable, I remember what he said  and try to keep in mind that there is  more to it than I know and that I as a woman of faith,  believe that some day, in a better place,  I will know the answers to all of the "Whys."
      The name of the school in Chicago was ironically named Holy Angels and I don't know why 89 children died but that fire went swooping up the stairways in that two story school house and the flames moved so quickly that the children were trapped.  Shortly after that, schools, hospitals and all public buildings had fire doors installed and if the fire alarm goes off those doors are shut immediately.  Maybe 89 little ones died to save thousands and thousands.  I don't know the answer, I just know what I can see, my part of the ceiling.