When Hate Kills...

We ALL Mourn

Once again we are witnesses to the ugliest manifestation of human behavior. The senseless killing of eleven individuals and injuries to several others..all for the insanity of someone's ingrained hatred. Our hearts break for the families and friends of these people who died while simply celebrating their faith. It is unfathomable to me how one can harbor such hatred for any thing or person.I have to believe that an individual who is capable of such a horrific act must surely be mentally ill. And I absolutely do not feel that this should be a time of placing blame (politically) and pointing fingers at others. The bottom line is that hate within this man, drove his murderous act.

Unity

Sadly, it seems to take a tragedy to unify everyone in compassion for humanity. And even more sadly, it will only be a temporary sentiment until the next big story blows up. It is so unfortunate that we as a collective group of people cannot maintain our compassion for more than the handful of days that a tragedy is reported in the media. 

I remember doing a simple lesson when my children were young. We took a few eggs (with tan and white shells) from the refrigerator and first talked about how they were different from each other. We then cracked them in a bowl. The point was to discuss how we are all different people on the outside, but on the inside, we are the same. And at the end of the day, this is still our truth. Though our thoughts, beliefs, and religions may differ, we are all part of the human family. It seems that there is a huge lack of tolerance and kindness for others in our culture. I think that this is one of the reasons I enjoy the Ellen Degeneres show so much. She is an outstanding example and advocate of kindness. Kindness is such a free gift that we can all give to eachother!

Thought-Provoking..

The hate that moved this man to take lives should motivate all of us to think about how to develop lasting solutions first and foremost on a personal (self and people to people) level. Perhaps it can best be summed up by the late Mr. Rogers:

Let's be the kind of people who care and make it our problem to solve!