After the MAX train stabbings a year ago, the heavy concrete walls of the Hollywood Transit Center were awash in the pastel colors of chalk drawings and message of love and support. The spontaneous art was for the girls who had been harassed, the men who had protected them from a hate-filled stranger and for the community. Flowers were heaped in the center’s circle of grass for the heroes who were injured, two of them dying from their wounds.
The chalk has given way to the vivid colors of a mural designed by Sarah Farahat, and on Saturday, the anniversary of the attack, a gathering honored the strength of the community to stand against hate.
Father Rick Paperini, pastor of Christ the King Parish in Milwaukie, told the crowd at the Hollywood Transit Center that he sometimes wonders why God doesn’t eradicate violence from the earth.
“But I choose not to despair, but to realize that God always suffers with us,” he said.
Ricky Best, 53, and Taliesin Namkai-Meche, 23, died when the man suddenly pulled a knife. The third man, Micah Fletcher, recovered from his wounds.
Read the complete article at http://www.catholicsentinel.org/Content/News/Local/Article/Portland-comes-together-at-the-Hollywood-Transit-Center/2/35/35704
