The war correspondent Marie Colvin, who was killed by a Syrian mortar attack last month in Homs, was laid to rest yesterday after a funeral mass at St. Dominics Catholic Church in her hometown of Oyster Bay, Long Island.The stories in the Daily News and The Times tell of her legacy and impact on so many lives. Her best testimony was her own life.As she said at a 2010 service for the war wounded in London:

"The real difficulty is having enough faith in humanity to believe that enough people be they government, military or the man on the street, will care when your file reaches the printed page, the website or the TV screen. We do have that faith because we believe we do make a difference."

Being there was Colvin's real genius, it seems to me. Great writing is what connects. Consider her last blog post before she was killed:

"I think the reports of my survival may be exaggerated. In Baba Amr. Sickening, cannot understand how the world can stand by and I should be hardened by now. Watched a baby die today. Shrapnel, doctors could do nothing. His little tummy just heaved and heaved until he stopped. Feeling helpless. As well as cold! Will keep trying to get out the information."

That's a final passage any writer should be proud of.

David Gibson is the director of Fordham’s Center on Religion & Culture.

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