Stop the Madness!

As I saw the first news tidbit pop up on my Twitter feed I felt sick to my stomach. My first hope was that this was an accident, a fluke event that was not intentionally perpetrated by one human being against another. I thought the same thing when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center. No one would do that on purpose, I thought. I was wrong then, as I am wrong now. I am just as sick about it today as I was that fateful September day. How much more twisted will society become?

It almost seems unbearable. Why do we harbor such hatred toward one another? Why is violence and destruction the go-to answer for so many? Why do we let hatred beget hatred? Why can't we all just get along? How do we stop this madness?

The questions are far more numerous than the answers. I know many of us have these questions swirling in our minds. I have taken the chicken way out - I have left my television off. I don't want the images in my head. I don't want to hear the stories of the loved ones lost or the extremist theories. Don't get me wrong, it isn't that I don't care, because I do. I have been praying for those involved, the victims, the families, the first responders - all those directly impacted by this horrific event.

I feel like I need to be shuttered a little bit to the news onslaught. I can't be the only human that feels that way. There are days when it is just too much to take. The up-to-the-minute news feeds, the in your face reporting, the need to get to the most gut wrenching or most hideous details of the story to get viewers to tune in disgusts and distresses me. We have become so hardened by the graphic nature of the news, movies and video games that we almost forget that these are real people. People that left home yesterday morning fully expecting to return to it last night.

What can we do about it? It feels like not much, but we can change how we behave and perhaps it will have a ripple effect to others. We can refrain from spouting half truths and rumors. We can stop regurgitating messages of hate and distrust. We can choose to LOVE and live a life that radiates that love into the darkest corners.

The following verses come to mind this morning:

Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs. 

(Proverbs 10:12 NIV)

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

(John 13:35 NIV)

In His Peace -