I Read the News Today; Oh Boy!

Saturday began like all days. I awaken, naturally with the help of Hurricane. How can I not wake up with a 70 pound dog licking my face? So, I creak down the stairs, literally, with my old knees speaking to me with each step as if to say, ‘Geez Louise, take it easy!’ I plunk down on one of the stools at the island with the newspaper spreading the world out in front of me and thank Scott for the coffee he sets in front of me. I hunt for my reading glasses I now need. Why is it they are never where they are supposed to be?
I peruse the headlines and am instantaneously distressed by just one section: Couple Charged with Suffocation of Baby, Trooper Charged with Killing Kitten wants Job Back, Teens Accused of Gang Activity, and Parents Charged with Abuse…I could go on but it literally makes me ill to stomach this type of news. Is this the world that will be our legacy? I thought the purpose of our being is to leave this world an improved place for the generation that comes after?

The headlines were ghastly! I couldn’t even comprehend the content so I skimmed and discovered that the infant suffocated was a mere 5 months old, and the parents charged with abuse; the baby was 7 weeks; oh my, all I can do is offer a quick prayer of ‘thank you’ that those babies are in a better place wrapped in God’s loving arms under His protective care.

The Trooper charged with killing the kitten thinks he was treated unfairly; REALLY? Don’t even get me started on that one and once more, I know God has a very extraordinary place in His Heavens for those creatures He so lovingly created; that consideration provides comfort and quiet to my psyche. Regarding the gang activity; those teens are two years older than my son’s eleven years. Their world is one that may as well be in an obscure part of the planet, but one I recognize exists much closer.

My heart and spirit truly weren’t made for such devastation and ruin; what's more I become conscious that I am immobilized by my powerlessness to transform the world on a larger scale. I agonized, reflected and debated. I mulled it over and have been for days and finally, a morsel of consolation came in the form of an e-mail I receive from a friend: Daily Quote which stated: “There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us.” By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thank you, Mr. Emerson that I could be reminiscent of my self-declared purpose in life which is to provide love, joy, understanding and compassion to others as they travel on their personal path, as insignificant as that may appear. Still, this doesn’t by any means diminish the wreckage, but I pray, perhaps it’s a start.