Paris has been on everyone’s mind the last several days. I was taken by a commentary on CNN about the “terrorists.” Who are they? Where do they come from?

The commentator said most of them had grown to adulthood in street gangs. Why? In the gangs they find acceptance, some one knows their name, they gain a kind of power they’d never had before. They are easy marks for ISIS and other terror-type groups. The groups offer what these young men have never had. She also noted that on the street they have learned how to move about in a city and from country to country and make themselves invisible in a crowd.

There is so much discussion of not letting in immigrants because a terrorist might come with them. How about an American who has gone to a country in Europe, smuggled themselves into Syria and are returning home on a US passport to become one of a terrorist team in this country? I’m afraid it’s more than possible. I think it is highly probable.

We now know the president was warned that an attack on the US was imminent in September 2011, but mostly ignored. I think we need to heed warning that there are probably homegrown terrorists in the US, which has nothing to do with immigration.

Below I have copied a post from my friend, Carol. It is thoughtful and spoke to me.

The news from Paris is frightening, the inhumanity of mankind is frightening, extremism seems to be running rampant. It makes me wonder if there is any hope for mankind. It’s as if we are reliving the horrors of 9/11.

The knee-jerk reactions from the powers that be are also frightening to me. The response to the horror in Paris is to inflict more horror upon Syria and other countries where ISIS is destroying life. The governors of Alabama and Michigan have said they will not take immigrants from Syria – because one of the terrorists in Paris came into France with a stream of immigrants. But does that make all immigrants a threat to us? Aren’t the majority of them simply trying to escape the same horrors that we are fighting? Will barring immigrants stop the terror? Have we forgotten that it was immigrants that built this country? Has anyone noticed that at least one of the terrorists was a citizen of France? Are any of these reactions the best answer? I don’t know.

I don’t know the answers. I only know that I fear the children of my grandchildren will have no peace, no sunshine, no place of safety. We have a government that does not work, a world population that knows no compromise, no willingness to allow the freedom of choice so that we can each believe as we wish, no moderation.

Darkness seems to be descending.

I pray for light. I pray for understanding. I pray for peace.

Now I’m going to go back to bed, and hope that when I awaken again the sun will be shining and my mind will not be filled with foreboding.