What is time? What is the hour? Maybe this hour someone first saw Jesus and asked 'Could he really be the one?'. Maybe this hour someone was martyred, dying so strongly and faithfully for our Lord. Maybe this hour someone first invented the violin. Maybe this hour a battle was finished, and a tired weary soldier looked about him on the meny fallen as the sun rises, with the feeling of victory, and yet graveness as he looks, beaten and battle worn. Maybe this hour someone just escaped death, and was never the same afterwards. Maybe this hour someone first landed on American soil. Maybe this hour some long awaited ship came to port. Maybe this hour some king was crowned. Maybe this hour the town crier cried news of danger, or maybe all was well. Maybe this hour a new state was added to our nation. Maybe this hour our flag first flew. Maybe this hour someone won their freedom. Maybe this hour someone sought the truth. Maybe this hour Pope John Paul II was born. Mayb e this hour a bomb was dropped, destroying towns, homes, and people. Maybe this hour someone faced their first battle. Maybe this hour someone heard the terrible news that their son had been killed in the war. Maybe this hour a man escaped from a concentration camp. Maybe this hour Chopin wrote his first song. Maybe this hour many shouts rang out, the war was done, they were coming back! Maybe this hour a soldier came home, and first saw his family after far too long. Maybe this hour someone found that their son, after all, was still alive. Maybe this hour a new Pope was elected. Maybe this hour a baby is being born. Maybe this hour someone is coming to know the Lord. Maybe this hour someone is dying with no one to be there, no one to mourn.

But every hour, lives are being taken. Precious lives that God chose to come into the world, to live and breath and grow strong. There is a purpose to them all, whether big or small. So every life should be treasured, every person respected, no matter how small they are, or what is expected. And when will it stop? No one knows except him that died on the cross. It is to him that we owe our lives, every hour of them.

So this is what's happening, or what happened long ago. Every hour is important, and everyone makes it so.