How to practice courage in a world that has (seemingly) gone mad
I was thinking about what to write about courage and fear in the wake of these mass shootings.
And then, as I was still collecting my thoughts, ANOTHER mass shooting happened.
I mean, for fuck’s sake, it seems almost impossible to imagine in so many ways.
And then I was heading down the highway on a perfectly ordinary day, my thoughts meandering and settling on gratitude, and then they hop-skip-jumped to what I wanted to say about having courage in a world that has seemingly gone mad.
What I have to say is this: my personal mission, and my hope is that you’ll join me in this, is to remember that most people are not “like that.”
Most of us, most of the time, are people who have nothing but good intentions.
Most of us, most of the time, are getting up in the morning thinking about how to create better lives for the people we love.
Most of us, most of the time, are arriving on time(ish) to our jobs, and being of service. That person who got your coffee, this morning? The teacher who’s with your kids, right now? The multiple tiers of people responsible for ensuring that internet service is up and running so that you can read this post?
— Yeah, those are the people you live among, most of the time.
Horrific acts of violence happen. We need to pray. We also need to get off our duffs and take action — uniting voices, putting forth legislation, and more — to try to do what we can.
It is courageous to steadfastly remember that when horrible things happen, and when we get really afraid of living in a world where horrible things happen, that not all people are this way.
In fact, only a small minority of people are this way.
In fact, only people who are horribly wounded are this way.
So I vote that I work on me, and you work on you, to try to heal as much of our wounding as we can, and to try not to do any further wounding. I vote that together, we pray and love in equal measure as we take a stand for change.
We are not all this way. The people nearest you probably want goodness and love and kindness and compassion as much as you do.
It’s perfectly normal to fear the way that wounded people act out their wounds.
