As anyone who has turned on a TV or opened up Facebook would know, there has been a terrible streak of violence and killings recently. Murders, mass shootings, and unreal acts of hatred have seemed to plague this country. It's at the point now where a new story hits once a week. We wake up every morning now having to pray that we don't hear about another shooting or unnecessary death. I have seen enough vigils and funerals in the last year to last a lifetime. What's worse is that these stories actually divide the American people.
The senseless loss of human life should never lead into a debate. It's as if their deaths are only relevant because they serve your political agenda. It's actually very simple; people are dying and we should do everything in our power to prevent it from happening. There's no debate over that. Yet we see arguments exploding all over the news and Internet with people trying to make their point heard. We're force fed these terror stories and political battles enough every day to make us sick.
It's hard to look at our world today and see it for anything other than a swirling mass of hatred and death. It's almost as if our world is truly evil.
As I mentioned, many people will take stories like these and use it to talk about a particular political or social view. While I certainly agree that it's important to do everything in our power to remember the victims and prevent a similar event from happening again, I don't like to talk about what I believe should be done policy-wise. I have my opinions, yes, but I feel like it's all anyone ever talks about after a tragedy. Instead, I like to talk about what no one ever seems to talk about: the good in the world.
It’s something that's hardly ever brought up or discussed on national news. It almost never makes the papers or trending topics on Twitter, but I assure you it's alive and well. For every tragedy and shooting you read about, know that there are millions of other incredibly beautiful things happening. Cures for vicious diseases are discovered, new technologies are improving our quality of life, and people are saving others’ lives every single day.
The world is full of good, loving people who certainly outnumber the bad. There are mothers who love their children so much that they work three jobs just so their kids can have a future. There are doctors and nurses who save the lives of their patients on a day to day basis. There are millionaires who donate immense amounts of money to wonderful charities, the poor, and just generally to those in need. There are even politicians who are actively working tirelessly to change our country for the better, believe it or not.
Even in the tragedies themselves there is good if you look close enough. Take the night club shooting in Orlando, for example. Within 24 hours, hundreds of people flocked to the city to lend their support and a helping hand. Businesses, big and small alike, donated food and volunteers to help the community in any way that they could.
After such a horrific act of hate, all you could find in the city was love. This isn't an isolated occurrence either. If you look at any tragic event, there are always amazing people doing whatever they can to help the situation. For every villain in the story, there are always twice as many heroes. The good always outnumbers the bad. The problem is that the good hardly makes the news. Acts of violence are much more newsworthy than acts of kindness. It is because of this that it’s really hard to see the good in the world. When you're constantly bombarded with terror, it's almost impossible to see the light. However, I promise you it's there.
There are terrible and evil things in this world, but there is so much more good. So please, I implore you to focus on the good instead of bad. Look for the heroes of the stories, not for the villains. Pick out the love, not the hate. There is plenty of good in this world. Sometimes you just have to look a little closer to see it.
