All I Got Is Love

   It will take quite a while for most of us to process yesterday's terrible tragedy, the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. There's a lot of information and misinformation flying around the internet and there will be a lot of discussion as facts surface in the investigation as to what exactly happened and why, and what we can learn from it, and what can we do to prevent such things in the future.
   I'm following the story and taking in the information as it comes out and trying to process it intellectually and emotionally. Frankly, it's really tough. It's an awful thing to read about and think about and feel about. It makes me cry at times and it makes me feel physically ill at times, imagining what happened and how all the innocent victims felt and thought in their last seconds.
   I have no real answers as to what we can do to prevent future tragedies, but I do have a personal philosophy that gets stronger every year as to how we who care can make a difference: all we got is love. In the fight against evil and darkness on the earth, our most powerful weapon is love. If we can feel love for and act in a loving way toward those we encounter in our daily lives; if we can swallow our own self-importance enough to remember we have no idea what the other person is going through or feeling that makes them act the way they do and say the things they say and have compassion for those who are hurting so badly they lash out at others - while maintaining enough love for ourselves we don't remain in a situation that is damaging to us; if we can choose certain loving actions we can make a part of our routine, like volunteer work that helps others less fortunate than ourselves or regularly taking the time to check in with people we know who are on the fringes of society and may not have a good support system in place, then we are doing our part to prevent senseless tragedy. The power of our love can help feed the spark of caring and humanity in others we encounter and the resulting blaze will overcome the power of darkness in the end. And I know it can happen. After all, someone much wiser than me tells us in the Bible at Romans 12:21, "Do not let yourself be conquered by the evil, but keep conquering the evil with the good."

Back Off, People!

    If you knew a person who was in a terrible accident as a child and lost a limb as a result, would you badger them to work hard to attempt to grow that limb back? Even if you believed they're such a nice person they really deserve to have the use of all their appendages? Even if you were convinced there had to be some way if they would just try hard enough? Would you really presume you knew better than they how they should allot their resources and align their priorities in their life? ...I didn't think so.