When Will We Get It?

On June 22nd, 2004, the nation, and indeed the world, lost a very powerful little boy. Mattie Stepanek died, after a lifelong fight with Muscular Dystrophy, at the age of 13. His funeral is today, where he'll be eulogized by former President Jimmy Carter, his "perfect hero."

Unlike most 13-year-olds, Mattie has left us with some of the most powerful verses ever written with respect to Peace. Every poem, all the prose, and every verse that exited his lips were surely works of art. He had a heart that was so compassionate that the very reading of his words in conjunction are enough to make the cruelest of criminal's eyes water. He had a vision that was beyond his time and in fact beyond our time. And, he had a wisdom that might have suggested his age to be 76 when he was but a mere lad.

I remember the first time that I heard him speak on television. I was incredibly astounded at the pristine nature of his language, and even more intrigued by the depth of his thought. I am glad that someone found this young man, and published those resplendent expressions that exuded from his heart.

I find it interesting that he died when he did. He seemed to die when war seems to be ever-escalating. It's as if the songs from his heart could take no more of the destruction that his eyes saw and the anguish that his heart felt. I might argue that it wasn't Muscular Dystrophy that stole him away from us, but rather the hateful, violent nature of war that is seemingly omnipresent.

I hope that his "Heartsongs" haven't fallen on deaf ears and that one day he will be even more cherished for ushering in an era of Peace. I just think that it is sad that this 13-year-old understood the depths of war, and the value of peace, but for some reason, we who are yet living (and have seen the destructive nature of war) just don't get it!

-Maelstrom

You can read some of his writings and his short autobiography at this site:
http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=mattieStepanek