These past couple of months (or years or decades, depending on your point of view) have been really rough. Far too many people in this world have died due to acts of violence, far too many people have been hurt due to cruel and selfish people. Sometimes it seems that talking about it gets us nowhere. The internet speaks loudly on this point, and often times ridiculous fights break out between people who don't share the same opinions.
It's really hard to live in this world sometimes. I think we all have a little bit of the I-want-to-save-the-world syndrome in us, and it can be very depressing when we see so much violence and hate and despair everyday. It breaks my heart that we still deal with racism every day in this #BlackLivesMatter vs. #AllLivesMatter debate. It breaks my heart that 50 people died in the Orlando shooting. And it breaks my heart that 84 people died yesterday, with hundreds more injured and in critical condition, in the Nice, France terrorist attack. These, and countless other shootings and deaths in other countries, are the most recent sorrows inflicted on our world. Each of them incredibly frightening and heartbreaking windows into what humanity faces, exposing hate and love at the same time.
It seems a lot easier to see the hate. It's everywhere. This world is broken. Sometimes it's really hard to remember that there's still hope and joy and beauty and love despite all the pain.
Sometimes that joy is buying someone else a cup of coffee, even when you don't really have enough money to buy your own.
Sometimes that beauty is buying a blanket covered in your favorite animal or spending time with loved ones instead of napping.
Sometimes that hope is reading or writing or cooking or smiling at someone on the street.
Sometimes it is simply stating that you are praying for a country broken by a terrorist in a truck.
The message that is constantly being promoted by millennials in this day and age is, quite simply, "LOVE." A simple word full of incredibly complex meaning. The Ancient Greeks had it right with their six different words for love, because just one word isn't quite accurate enough to describe what love is and can do. But everyone who promotes love is right—love is what this world needs.
And that's where hope comes in. I have hope because love is buying someone else a cup of coffee. Love is smiling at someone on the street. Love is spending time with loved ones even when you don't want to. Love is listening to people, being there for them, trying to understand how they feel (rather than lashing out and telling them they're wrong immediately).
Love is giving someone the shirt off your back. Love is weeping with the brokenhearted. Love is praying for change.
I think we all know that love is the answer. We all have our own interpretations and beliefs about love, but when it comes right down to it, I think even non-Christians can agree with these words from 1 Corinthians 13: 4-6:
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
It's hard to change the world, but it starts with us, with our families and friends. With small acts of love, there's hope. And I see hope everywhere. Buying someone a cup of coffee won't undo all the evil that has been done, but even the smallest kindness can change the world a little bit. I can't change the whole world, but I can make an effort to change the part that I live in by loving as best I can. It's not much, but it's a little bit of hope.
