Every day brings more and more terrible news. There seems to be an increase in the "nastiness" in people, as my mom would say. Which is why there needs to be a discussion about compassion. This past week, with the shooting in Charleston made me really think about why there is so much hatred in the world. It doesn't make sense for people to hate others, and it makes even less sense why some people hate others without any actual reason at all.

No one is born hating another person for the color of their skin. Nor is anyone born hating anyone for who they are, or for their sexuality, for for any other number of characteristics a person could have. Hatred is taught. That's something that has been said so many times before this, but it's something that may not be actually heard and digested enough.

This past year has been filled with so much sadness, not just in our individual communities, but also in the world as a whole. The only way, as I see it, to change what is happening right now is to be better ourselves so that our society can become better for everyone around us and for everyone who comes after us.

One of the most interesting things about compassion is that it isn't equal across the board. When something happens close to home, people naturally feel more intense emotions. But we should learn to feel compassion for everyone, not just the people we know. That's the only way that things will begin to change.

It is easy to say that only the people who live with hatred in their hearts are the only ones responsible for the hatred in the world. And many would agree with that. It's a tougher pill to swallow if one were to say that in some small way, everyone is responsible for the hatred in the world, because there is an acceptance for it, a tolerance for intolerance. It has become almost normal to hear on the news that some terrible hate crime has been committed, or something else horrifying.

The only way to combat the atrocities that have been occurring is to be better people, but also to make the intolerance that we see so often in the news unacceptable. I don't claim to have any power over other people, but I do know that as an individual, I can strive to be a more compassionate person to everyone I meet and I think that everyone should strive to be better people as well. Because nine innocent and loving people were killed in cold blood because of the color of their skin after sitting with their to-be-killer for an hour in a church praying.