Not long ago, I read a lengthy report concerning the violence
and bloodshed that continue to stalk the land of what was once
Yugoslavia. The killing and maiming seem to go on, despite the
efforts put forth to bring peace. The account of a sniper taking
deadly aim and snuffing out the life of a small child brought
sorrow to my soul. I silently asked: Where to be found is that
divine attribute of mercy? The cruelty of war seems to bring
forth hatred toward others and disregard for human life. It has
ever been so. Yet, in such degradation at times there shines
forth the inextinguishable light of mercy. During the television
documentaries shown throughout the fiftieth anniversary of the
D-Day invasion of Normandy, the terrible toll in human life was
graphically illustrated, and gripping firsthand experiences of
soldiers who were there were shared. I particularly remember the
comments of an American infantryman who told that, after a day
of ferocious fighting, he glanced up from his shallow foxhole to
see an enemy