Quilt unveiling, men's breakfast

I broke from my routine work and play and did a couple of out of the ordinary things this weekend:

-Friday night I went to the annual Victim's Memorial Quilt Unveiling, sponsored by my office, and held at the Visalia Convention Center. Every year families of recent victims of violent crime are given the opportunity to remember their loved one in a special way. Each family gets a quilt square on which to put pictures, thoughts, or prayers. The quilt is then put together by a local volunteer, and the unveiling ceremony is a chance for the community to pull together and bear one another's burden. Violent crime can splinter a community, but a function like this can work to overcome that tendency and turn a tragedy into something that unites. There was a surprising amount of songs, words, and prayers during the program about God, faith, and hope. It seems even the government tends to disregard separation of church and state in times of intense loss. (Remember on 9-11 when members of Congress spontaneously sang God Bless America and, as I recall, Amazing Grace, on the steps of the Capitol?). For me, it was a great opportunity to mourn with those who mourn, something I don't often experience. I saved the lapel ribbon from the event- it says "Justice For Victims, Justice For All"- and stuck it on my door so I'm reminded why I do what I do when I leave my apartment for work each day.

-Saturday morning I attended another annual event, the Iron Men's Breakfast sponsored by a local church. The speaker was an ex-con who cheated lots of people out of lots of money and did prison time before Christ transformed his life. His testimony was inspiring, and it was encouraging to be part of such a large group of like minded men (over 500 in attendance). Assistant DA Bill Yoshimoto did a great job recruiting prosecutors from our office, and we ended up with like 30 DA's there.

On another note, my friend Matthew uploaded some additional pictures from last weekend's climb of Mt. Silliman on his blog. Interestingly, his blog has more pictures of me, and mine has more including him. We should probably just swap cameras before the next trip =). Anyway, if you want to see a few more, including some spectacular sunset shots, check out his blog at http://thatlooksspicy.blogspot.com/ or additional pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/SMRVultures/MountSilliman2008 .