Despite the recent events that have turned our country into a war zone, I still believe the world is good. I believe this because without that hope, without the mere possibility that there's more good out there than evil, I wouldn't be able to handle the immensity of it all. I believe in the good because I'm convinced that there's angels in the world that walk without wings, and that they're doing the best that they can to ensure that good overpowers evil.

Although their efforts are valiant, they are failing. This failure is in no part their fault; it is ours. This blame can be placed on us because as a whole, we allow the noise of the world to distract us from the wonderful things that happen everyday.

As a society, we make a profit from terrible things happening to us. Doctors make a living off of life-threatening injuries and sick babies. Firemen make their living off of other people's lives burning to the ground. Psychologists profit from people going through life-altering events. News reporters go out and find terrible things happening, in order to let their viewers know what destruction is occurring in their own backyard.

While all of these positions are vitally important and well respected, we can't disguise the true meaning behind them. We are programmed to greet pain with attention and cameras, but in a world where beautiful things happen everyday, why do we allow the evil to be the focal point? If we gave good deeds the same amount of attention as we do the terrible things, do you think the world would be in such turmoil?

I'm not pretending that I know everything there is to know about the problems of the world. With my 19 years on this planet, I've hardly dipped my toes in the oceans of knowledge that I have yet to acquire. Despite the fact that I still have so much to learn, I do know that we can't keep going on with so much fire in our hearts and so little love to spread around.

I've discovered that people are quick to shift the blame and make accusations because they don't want to be held accountable for the actions of others. We push the problems of the world onto each other, trying to force others to house a blame that doesn't truly have a home. We are quick to judge, quick to defend and quick to turn a blind eye to the problems that come in our path because we don't feel responsible for the problem in the first place. As a whole, we have stopped going out of our way to spread kindness. Instead, we lock it away, expecting other people to clean up the sorrow of the world, instead of making an effort to clean it up ourselves.

We can't blame everything happening in the world on one specific group of people, but that doesn't mean we can't all individually take something away from the events that are taking place around us.

I have a challenge for each of you: be extraordinarily kind in this time of overwhelming sadness. Set aside your reservations and your prejudices. Go the extra mile for someone, do something nice for a stranger, compliment someone not for how they look physically, but for their mind and their personality and their strength. Be a beacon of light in a dark place. You might not think that your single beam of light can make a difference, but I promise you that if everyone tries to be sunshine, it could create a spark big enough to cast evil out of even the darkest of shadows.