I'm calling for you to take action today. I don't want you to simply read this. I want you to read it and share it, because Lord knows we need a little more love in our world today.
Today our social media feeds are filled with thoughts, prayers, opinions, and stories from the devastating school shooting in Florida.
Normally, I don’t follow trend and post about tragedies after they take place. I watch. I listen. I feel. But for some reason making a social media post simply stating my feelings seems like vanity to me.
These tragedies, yes, they make me sad. They break my heart. I am mad at the perpetrator. I grieve for the families who lose loved ones. I say a prayer for everyone involved. But then I just go on living. My life isn’t changed. I wasn’t personally affected by the tragedy; therefore, life goes on as usual.
Today is different. I’m going to talk about this, and I’m going to challenge everybody to change their life just a little bit today.
As I talked about in my post on Tuesday, hatred ruins lives. While symptoms of hatred start out small - like jealousy and cattiness and vengefulness - these symptoms grow inside a person until it’s too much to take and they completely explode to spread that hate in the most grotesque way possible. Their hate causes them to ruin innocent lives and has the potential to create a trickle effect of hate that will permeate through all who are impacted.
I don’t think hate is natural. I think it’s developed over time. I think people become filled with hate little by little as incidents happen throughout their lifetime. Maybe it was the way they saw their parents yell at each other as child… Maybe it was how their older siblings picked on them daily… Maybe it was the day that a stranger bit off their head at work because of a customer service dispute… Or the road rage guy who flipped them the bird while driving down the highway… Or the eye roll from a co-worker after they brought up their business idea… While these incidents may seem miniscule and inconsequential as a single occurrence, these occurrences can build over time leaving an infestation of malice - especially in an individual who is emotionally unstable.
Before I go on, let me clarify: there is ZERO EXCUSE for ever taking someone else’s life. There is absolutely NO JUSTIFICATION for what Nikolas Cruz did in that school yesterday. NONE WHATSOEVER.
But, if I stop and ask myself, how can I make any change in this big world? It’s simply by spreading LOVE, KINDNESS, & COMPASSION to others every day. To your spouse who can’t figure out how to put his jacket in the closet, let’s let it slide. To your siblings who drive you nuts, let’s find the positives within them. To the guy who is driving like an idiot on the road, let’s choose love. To the customer service rep that doesn’t know how to do their job, let’s show them compassion. To the co-worker who always drags out your meetings with their seemingly dumb ideas, let’s grant them kindness. Maybe they are fighting a battle bigger than we know.
Instead of just making a post about the Florida tragedy, I’m challenging you to be part of this change. The next time you want to criticize someone, tear them down, throw a mean-spirited jab someone’s way - even if you feel like they deserve it - I challenge you to choose love instead. If everyone did that, we could make a big difference. We could spread so much love. And, no matter your opinion on anything else surrounding this tragedy, I think we can all agree that the world needs a lot more love these days. And, that change starts within each of us. I hope you join me in this #chooselovechallenge ❤❤