By now I'm sure you've heard about all the loss of life in the past month. Shootings, attacks, brutality, complete lack of empathy. So I guess it's at this point that I should start talking about WHO I've lost this week. There's only one problem with that:
I haven't personally lost anyone this month. What I've lost hasn't been a parent, spouse, sibling, or friend. I haven't lost a colleague or a boss.
I have lost my sense of freedom and safety - even hope.
As I sat in the movie theater with my husband today, I realized how rocked my world has been this month. Maybe even in the last few years.
Life is so busy, I never really take more than a few moments to process what's going on in our world. When my watch buzzes with notifications of more shootings, I say a quick prayer for those involved and then move on with what I'm doing. It's insensitive and irresponsible of me, but that's the truth. Since it doesn't directly affect my life, it doesn't consume my thoughts for more than a few minutes. My revelation today has shaken me to want to change that. I realized while I sat there in the comfy red chair - this could be my last moment. A shooter could come into the theater and kill everyone sitting there enjoying the film. It hit me that in a split moment, my life could very well change or even end. From there, my mind wandered to deeper and scarier thoughts. What if I lived and Lars died. What if the opposite happened? What kind of therapy would we need to make it through something like that? It's a terrible reality that we live with every day in this great nation. Although we are one of the most free groups of people, our safety isn't guaranteed. There are times when bad things happen; there are even times when mistakes happen and people get hurt. But how do we deal with that reality? What do we do when life takes that turn? And what do we do when it doesn't happen to US?
First off, I want to address the first issue: FEAR. Lars is always reminding me that "this world is not our home." Why are we afraid of what happens here? We're just passing through. Heaven is our true home - it's where our true citizenship lies. It's hard to put a finger on how to lose sight of our fears - but I'm encouraged by the reminder that this Earth is not the end for us. There is an eternity to look forward to. My thought today is this: Maybe instead of being afraid of the humans on this earth, I should focus more on my eternal life and hope that I have through Jesus. And maybe, just maybe, if we could all focus on that, less of these tragedies would happen. Again, I don't claim to have any answers, but this seems like a good stepping stone to head in the right direction.
But then there's this issue to deal with: What do I do when I have no personal loss from a tragedy? How should I react? I don't think taking to Facebook is the answer. Even blogging isn't the appropriate response. There's still a lot more thinking to be done on this, but I don't want to let my life continue this way. When there's loss of life on this earth (especially when it's taken by another human being) I want to take the time to process that grief. Finding ways to encourage and support those that WERE personally affected by the incident could be the way I aid in the situation.
Like all others, I don't have an answer. I can't side with anyone because I believe there are always improvements to be made in every aspect of our lives - no one will ever be perfect. I just wish we would all take a step back from the politics behind everything happening these days and look at the world we are creating for ourselves. Switchfoot has a song that touches my heart every time I hear it - it's titled The World You Want. The chorus goes like this: Is this the world you want? You're making it. Every day you're alive. Is this the world you want? You're making it. Friends ~ I implore you: if this isn't the world we want to live in, let's change it. It won't happen in one day. Most likely it won't even change in a year. But if this isn't the reality we want to leave behind for our children, we need to make a change. I pray that we all find our passion, niche, and change agent. Together, we really can change the world.
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