Too true :(

The liturgy was so literally true this year that I just couldn't focus on my prayers, and spent much of  Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur with little kavanah. 

“Who will live and who will die?”

“Who by fire?”  See the Pacific Coast and other western areas, Greece, and the Middle East, including Israel.

And we just observed the twentieth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  For twenty years, “who by fire” has always brought to mind my sister, whom I almost lost that day—she barely missed being crushed in the collapse of the Twin Towers.

“Who by water?”  See the Gulf Coast, the Atlantic coast, and, earlier this summer, western Europe.

“Who by earthquake?"  See Haiti.  Again.  ☹

“Who by plague?”  Too many, and it’s not over yet—now it’s claiming four-year-olds.  ☹

I just can't see how either repentance or prayer could possibly help.  ☹