I am stunned.

As I sit looking back on this past week, I hear only words of anger. Words of anger and hurt and inequality and terrorism, and I am stunned. With so many incidents of violence piling on top of the next, it has again become more difficult to see the good that the bad wants to cover.

This past week has also shown me something that I often take for granted: friendship. In the protests, I have found acceptance. In the arguments, understanding. In the targeting, unity. Lately, it has been much easier for people to find enemies than allies, and it's time we change that.

In life, human interaction is possibly the thing we fight for the most. People grow old being loved by their families, their friends, their spouses, and their children. Everyone searches for it, but not everyone finds it. But me? I've been lucky to find it a million times over.

Last Tuesday afternoon, I attended a scholarship acceptance reception, and while I was beyond grateful for the financial aid, I had no idea what was about to happen. As I sat in my seat, I turned around in time to see one my best friends -- whom I had not seen since Christmas -- also step through the door. I jumped to my feet, and I ran to her.

Elizabeth and I met each other in the spring of 2015, and I honestly had no idea what I was missing in a friendship until I met her. Living about 40 minutes apart, even though we don't see each other that often, the phrase, "picking up where we left off," applies itself perfectly. Looking at her Tuesday, I could've screamed (and I probably did a little). I definitely couldn't stop smiling. We are so much alike, and so different, that I can't help but laugh at how perfectly it works out.

About the same time I met Elizabeth, I was given a roommate for a trip to Washington, D.C. Between talking late at night in our hotel room, bonding over a shared love for school and learning how to read her incredible sarcasm, I found another piece of my heart of which before I hadn't had. Lily Kate now calls me almost every week, and we text almost every day. She just gets me, it, us and she teaches me new things all the time that I don't think I would get just anywhere.

As last summer gave way to the fall, I began my senior year of high school. With yearbook as three of my four first semester classes, I was smitten. I've said it once, but I'll continue to say it a million times over, yearbook was the biggest blessing I've ever received. Through that class, I was given a passion I had no idea existed. Suddenly, God decided to put two more people into my hands just one more time. Reagan and Raeanna take care of me every day, saying just what I need to hear, and knowing who I am before I know myself. They hold me up, the both of them. Coupled with my other amazing best friend, Meghan -- who reminds me every day of the magic of laughter -- they made my last year in high school the best one I've ever had.

My best friends give me so many things that they don't know they do. They give me happiness, compassion, hope, excitement, and so many other gifts for which I can't be thankful enough. I can only wonder whether I tell them that. And I want to give them just as much in reciprocation.

When I think of all the friends I am beyond blessed to have in the midst of such a chaotic time in our country, the lyrics of the song, "Glow in the Dark," by Jason Gray come to my mind. God allows things to happen in our life that are both good and bad. And yet, He reminds us that "the more broken [we] are, the more the light shines through."

Right now, my light is coming from the people who love me no matter where I am or what I'm doing. The people who can look at me and know what I'm saying without a word. Although I know that is it becoming harder daily to focus on the positive things in our world, I can promise that they're there. They're there, and "the greatest of [them], is love."