17 is my favorite number. Obsessively. I love it. It was my softball number for 10 years. A lot of important things happened when I was 17. I see it in the strangest places and often take it for a sign. It just all around makes me feel good.So...I was very excited for the "Day 17" post....
But today...I don't feel so good.
I just heard about the senseless shooting in Colorado. A masked gunman opened fire at a midnight screening of the new Batman movie. 12 dead. 59 adults and children wounded. I can't wrap my head around it. I can't understand how someone can be filled with so much hatred. Every time something like this happens in our world...and it happens far too often...I am baffled. And heartbroken. It makes the world a terrifying place to be. And it makes it hard to walk around with an open heart. The instinct is to be guarded, suspicious, and leery of your fellow man. I don't want to live like that...but on days like today, its hard not to want to crawl into a hole and hide.
So what do we do? Do we live our lives in fear? No. Where would the joy in living be?
Gandhi said “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
When there is hatred and anger....we can be love and understanding.
When there is ignorance...we can educate.
When there is despair....we can have hope.
When there is greed....we can be generous.
When there is darkness...we can be the light.
When there is thanklessness....we can be grateful.
And how? How can we be grateful in the wake of such tragedy?
Day 17: I am grateful for the law enforcement officers that arrived on the scene and apprehended the gunman. I am grateful for all of the people who made it out of that theater unscathed. I am grateful for the doctors who are working to save the lives and heal those that were wounded. I am grateful to see the outpouring of support and love on social media sites for the victims and their families and friends.
I still truly believe that there is more good than bad in this world. I believe that there is more love than hate. We just have to choose it, to show it, to exude it to all around us.
"It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." - Chinese Proverb
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