For a variety of reasons, I like Oakland, CA. Some of it is being a Raiders fan. Some of it is its contrast with San Francisco.
At any rate, Jessie, the boys and I went there about 3 years ago I guess it was. We were looking for some contacts we had, got lost, and ended up somewhere that was important to us for some personal reasons, we just did not know that's where we would end up: Tyrone Carney Park.
Tyrone Carney Park, I saw in a news report today, has been fenced off because of a gang that has taken over the park. There's a lot of sadness in that because of everything Tyrone Carney represents.
Tyrone was studying for the ministry. He was 20 years old. He volunteered to go to VietNam so that another young man would not have to go. He was "in country" just 6 weeks when he was killed in combat in the Quang Tri Valley.
Isn't it terrible that a man who made that sacrifice-- "greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friends"-- the park in his name is a place of murder and destruction?
Tyrone's brother, Glandion Carney, is my spiritual director. Glandion said in those terrible days in 1968, he had to make a choice between joining anger and fighting back and following Christ.
We're going to DC over Spring Break. Panel 56W, line 012 will be our first stop.
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