Recently, it seems that there have been a lot of very hateful events being presented in the media. Crimes impacting different people are especially disturbing when they are committed to targeting a specific group. Due to social media, it is impossible to remain oblivious to the details of, reactions to, and millions of opinions that exist toward a frightful and shocking event. It seems that these events are what opens up the passion within people, and exposes their desires, for there to be beauty and justice within the world. When bad things happen, the best reaction—and, often, the most chosen coping mechanism—is to turn the experience into an opportunity. What can we learn from this? How can we prevent something like this from happening again? It appears to be instinctive for people to search for a cause to get behind immediately following a hardship, in order to feel empowered and helpful. Although we cannot change the event after it already happened, we are in control of our reaction—which can be used to create good out of the bad. That said, we must be sure that we are always choosing this path. It may not be easy, but it is essential to utilize the inevitability of suffering to galvanize toward improving our lives and the lives of people around the world. We must be sure that we never stop choosing love, especially in the midst of hate.

This means that we should fight for righteousness and support the things that we feel passionately are solutions to one of the millions of problems in the world. But we must be particular about how we go about this. For example, it is unfair to say that blaming and punishing a group of people is the correct approach to righting a wrong. This kind of generalizing does not make improvements; on the contrary, it just creates more hate. We must be conscientious of the fact that hate strengthens hate, and there is already too much of that in the world.

Conversely, love is what weakens hate and the solution that we must turn to in the presence of difficulty. Social media is a powerful tool to achieve this. While I feel heartbroken to hear about acts of hate in the world, I feel inspired when I see people offering up thoughts, prayers, and love for those impacted by it. The world is made into a much smaller place via the internet and it is a powerful tool for exposing our interdependence. That said, we must not react to hate in a way that pinpoints who or what group is to blame, but rather, in a way that builds sympathy, knowledge, understanding, and hope. Together, we can choose to love and triumph or to hate and collapse.