The most powerful rebuttal to violence and hatred is love. So let yours shine.
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The news of late has been devastating. There’s no other way to think about it.
My most recent thoughts are of the Orlando mass shooting early Sunday morning. My prayers are for the victims’ families and friends, and the city of Orlando itself, that healing and comfort would come swiftly.
I also pray these tragedies would stop.
But I feel exhausted by them.
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It is too easy right now, to feel animosity and anger towards people who disagree with us or our way of life.
Perhaps animosity is too bland a word.
Maybe hatred is the more accurate term.
Which is not to say anger is never warranted. It is. When someone kills civilians for any reason, a justified response is anger. When there are things that could have been done to prevent such evil, and they were not done, there is cause for anger.
But to live in a constant state of that rage is not only unproductive. It is unhealthy.
I think living in that kind of hatred can itself be, sometimes, deadly.
If you are like me, you are probably tired of having so much to be against.
I want something good to be FOR.
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After a mass tragedy, I wonder: what can we do? What can we do? What can we do?
And a Bible verse learned in childhood comes to mind, unbidden and powerful:
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Don’t let the evil you see paralyze you. Don’t let it take over your life.
But neither let it be something you simply diagnose and then ignore, as if to say, “Oh, look, that person is wrong,” and then just move on to some other distraction.
We will not conquer evil – whatever its motivation – by acknowledging it and nothing more.
Nor do I think we will uproot it by trying take ultimate power into our own hands, and enforce the way of life we deem “correct” upon everyone else.
I think we will overcome it by doing good. And the small kinds of good that are often overlooked and almost never celebrated by our society.
Being gentle and gracious and present in our families.
Being involved with and concerned for our neighbors.
Being active within our communities, to make sure we are aware of local challenges, and to make sure we are part of the solution.
There are schools near you, I can almost promise, that need help.
There are homeless men and women near you, I can almost promise, who need help.
There are probably friends and members of your family who need encouragement.
This is the goodness that gives us a beginning.
I think this is where we need to start.
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Some may be wondering what that has to do with homophobic murder, or radical Jihadism, or gun control.
And I would just say: you may be surprised.
Last summer, three young American men stopped a would-be terrorist on a Paris train. Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone, and Alex Skarlatos saw someone attempting a mass murder, and they worked together to tackle and stop him.
That kind of bravery doesn’t grow in a vacuum.
After Dylann Roof murdered nine black members of the African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, he hoped to inspire more racist violence. He failed. The city came together in solidarity, the victims’ families expressed extraordinary (I would call it divine) forgiveness towards Roof himself.
That kind of grace does not bloom in a desert.
Our actions, our choices: they are not one-time transactional events. They are more like the currency itself, being passed from your hand to someone else’s, to be used later, in some other way.
Make your currency love. Make it goodness.
You never know where it will be useful next.
The crucial opportunity to effect change? It is right where we are.
So love. Let your love shine. Let your goodness show.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/06/14/chick-fil-a-opens-on-sunday-to-feed-orlando-blood-donors/85868494/