My Facebook feed lately has been filled with sorrow. This morning, I woke up to angry post after angry post, about how Black Lives Matter, Police Lives Matter or how the lives of alien creatures from the rings of Saturn matter. Just to put it out there, all lives matter. Since when has it been OK for those who are still blessed enough to be alive to decide who is worth mourning and who is not? Humanitarian detour aside, as I thought about the events of the past week, part of me wanted to contribute to the chaos of the media, both social and otherwise, to write some long tirade about how, “Wow, this makes me so furious, the blatant disrespect of (insert tragedy here), and here are my words of anger on some social media platform to express just how senseless (insert previous tragedy here) is!”
Then I began to think, does the world really need my words of sadness and hurt right now? Will that make things significantly easier to deal with? Will that provide comfort? Will that bring any hope that someday we can bring even the tiniest change to the world? I am someone who desperately hopes that I will be able to bring the tiniest bit of comfort or joy. I pray every day that my actions will make the world a better place, even if it’s only the smallest bit better. If everyone demanded revenge on those that caused them pain, or, even worse, declared war on an entire group or race or religion, the world would burn. Violence, hurt and anger will not cease if we respond with hatred in kind.
Instead, to be individuals who make change, who bring light to the world and healing and change and even the tiniest bit of “better,” we need to be people who react with kindness when someone hurts us. You and I can only control our own actions, and if those actions are angry, hateful and unforgiving, then we are no better than those who caused us hurt in the first place.
I’m not saying that when you are hurt by bad things, especially to the magnitude of the horrible things that have been happening in this world, you should hide or never speak up. On the contrary, if we are trying to brighten the world, we cannot passively let the world continue in its tragic ways without rising to the occasion and being as bright as the world is dark. The darker the world is, the harder we must work to provide light to those who are hurting. If we don’t take action to provide good in the world, even in the smallest ways, any good that happens in the world will simply be snuffed out by those who insist on being hateful.
I’m not going to shut my eyes and ears and pretend everything is great in the world. I keep the news on and my social media platforms full of bombings, shootings and murders active so that I am aware of how dark the world really is. This way, I try my absolute hardest to come anywhere close to shining as brightly as the world needs Adding to the side of light, to the side of the angels, one moment and one day at a time.
