It's no secret that there have been way more negative stories in the news in the past few weeks than positive stories. Unfortunately, this is usually the case when it comes to our society. Everyday we hear about people being killed, hate crimes being committed and conflicts in the world around us.
While I was abroad for the past four weeks, I read online stories about the Stanford rape case, Christina Grimmie being murdered, the Orlando shooting, gang fights and other random acts of violence. Being away and hearing about all these things happening in my country gave me a weird feeling and I felt the tiniest bit nervous to come home to all the evil that was going on.
During these past few weeks, I've also seen countless tweets, facebook statuses and other online posts about how people have "given up on humanity." This is a phrase that I see far too often online when events like the ones I just mentioned occur. It is a phrase I used to use as well because it seemed fitting during these times of confusion and sadness when there was absolutely no explanation in the world that could make anyone understand why something so evil could happen.
But I refuse to use that phrase any longer. I refuse to give up on humanity, even in the wake of the evil that is going on. To give up is to admit defeat. To admit defeat is to cease fighting against this pointless hatred.
After hearing about the Boston marathon bombing a few years ago, I found a quote to try to help make sense of the act of terror:
No quote can ever explain why someone would choose to inflict so much pain on so many people, but this quote inspired me to try looking at evil in a different way.
It's impossible to just focus on the positives and ignore the evil that had to be committed, but it's certainly better than just admitting defeat and saying "I've given up on humanity." In order to see progress and change in our world, we have to praise the heroes that arise from awful stories. We need to pay more attention to the two Swedish men who saved Brock Turner's victim. We need to recognize the selfless decision Mark Grimmie made when he tackled the shooter who killed his sister, preventing others from being hurt. We need to honor the people who sacrificed their lives in the Orlando shooting, such as Brenda Marquez McCool and all the other victims who lost their own lives or their loved ones.
As much as it's important to allow the evil to strengthen us and motivate us to demand change, we must also focus on the positive and extraordinary actions that regular people took in those situations. We cannot be consumed by the hate and only see the evil in our world. It will never be enough to condemn humanity as a whole. We will never change our world if we lose faith in humanity by focusing on the hate.
