Love.
Songs,
books, movies, art..all have been created in one way or another to honour it.
And yet, we don’t. Not always. Not when it counts the most.
Today
tragedy struck. Senseless, devastating, heart wrenching tragedy. It stripped
lives of the innocent; hope from humanity.
The news
out of Connecticut today, then China, was heartbreaking. I know I’m not alone
in its effects. Social media flooded with sentiments, opinions, outrage, shock
and dismay, over the day’s events.
I
instantly wondered why? Who? How? The media (albeit inaccurately and prematurely
for large parts of the day) had answered the who, what and where questions. But
the harder questions. Those still linger. Maybe we’ll find some answers. I hope
we don’t have to ask them again.
Too many
guns? Too many untreated mental illnesses? Too much media attention creating
notoriety-seeking psychopaths? Could it be video games? Is this a media
monster? Is this an American problem?
Too many
questions we don’t have the answers for.
It’s so
wrong that there are so many days like this to remember or forget..but there
are. This has happened too many times. Each time it happens, I, like many, go
through a gamut of emotions. Shock, sadness, wonder, despair, anger, more
sadness. I want to blame someone but this has happened too many times to blame
any one person or any one thing.
Yes, those committing these heinous acts are wrong for taking out whatever's going on inside on others outside. Maybe, just maybe, there needed to be more intervention when it came to mental health. Maybe there were warning signs. And yes, gun reform needs to happen. It’s too late in many cases but not
too late to act as some sort of prevention for repeats of today’s events. No
human being should ever hold, use, own or find need for a semi-automatic
weapon. Why we’ve created these killing machines, I’ll never know.
One-upmanship I suppose. All I know is this world would be a lot better place
without them.
This isn’t
just a gun issue though. This is a humanity issue.
The
outpouring of love, harmony, community and turning to God is so awe inspiring
after days like today. But then it waxes and wanes and it feels like the
coldness seeps back into our hearts before we even know it’s there.
On my
drive home from work, my heart ached especially for the families, friends and
first responders all affected directly by the actions of one man. I wanted to
become a beacon of love for everyone. Live charity every day, not just around
the Christmas holidays or when my heart was feeling full because a tragedy
reminded me how precious life is.
But then
when a begging man approached my car, all I gave him was a wave and an “I’m
sorry” even though I’m not. I’m just selfish. I’d rather hang onto my few
pennies and dimes rather than give another a handful of hope.
There it
was, my chance to lift another’s spirit in some small way. But I reasoned and
reckoned my way out of helping. And that’s not the first time.
What I take from all of this is that time is short. Sometimes
too short. So we do our best to make the best of it. And we fall short. Then we
try again. We give where we can, love when it counts, hug when it hurts and
when it just seems to fit the moment. And sometimes we don't. Sometimes we go cold.
Thoughts and prayers will go a long way. Advocacy for
change too. I personally am pushing for all of them but I believe where we
really make the most of our time here is when we love. Love now while we can
because, while I believe love endures beyond this often messed up world, right now,
this world’s what we’ve got.
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