Find the light beyond tragedy - #lakewoodnews

Some days, it's hard to find good food to feed the Light wolf.

Of course, we were all shocked and horrified at what happened at the nightclub in Orlando. So shocked, in fact, that it took less than two hours for somebody in my social media feed to make a political point about it. By Monday night, less than 48 hours after the tragedy, all the usual suspects had made all the usual points in all the usual ways. And we all ignored them in all the usual fashions.

It isn't so much that we go through this same, silly, pointless dance every time--;it's that it's taking so much less time to do it than it did 10 years ago. As if even the reactions are just a matter of form and we've gotten impatient to get it over with.

See, the darkness isn't always the event. The event itself --; the shooting, or the explosion, or whatever it is --; is like a big bucket of water being thrown into a flood. But the flood itself, the slow rising of the water, the constant, inexorable movement of the cold, inky waters, that's what happens all around the event. That's the sad, predictable, impotent political posturing that happens in the aftermath.

It's not the news that a 2-year-old boy was tragically carried away from his parents while on vacation in Disney World --; it's the mounds of shaming and blaming of the parents that immediately followed. Let me tell you something, folks: for those of you who haven't been parents, there is no such thing as perfect parenting. You just wake up every day and pray to God that the mistakes you make this day aren't ones that leave scars.

It's not the news that economic growth is nearly stagnant and that we are still at near-historic lows for workforce participation in this country. It's the moms and the dads, doing everything in their power since the collapse eight years ago, to try to keep their families' heads above water, and the abyss they sink into as the seeds they plant land on bare rock, and the desperation they feel as the pit sinks deeper.

It's none of those things by themselves --; it's that all of these things, when stacked together, weigh on us to the point that we begin to accept lowered expectations and diminished hopes for ourselves and our children. The new normal.

I think we all head out into our lives with these beautiful, idyllic visions of what our futures are going to be. But life is not idyllic. Life is coarse and messy and unfair and, often, a big, steaming, smelly pile of excrement.

Punctuated by moments of sublime beauty and breathtaking wonder.

And when the flood waters rise, we have to be more conscious, work harder, to push them back and bring some Light into the world.

So, work hard to be Light. Take time off to drive somebody who has nobody else to the hospital, so they might find Hope. Step in and prevent a bully from having their way, so somebody else can hold on to their Dreams. Stop and help that little boy who stopped everything to help a stray puppy find its way back to its owner.

The Darkness is battled with everyday goods --; kindness, generosity, patience, beauty, mercy, compassion --; not grand gestures by self-proclaimed powerful people. And slowly, bit by bit, corner by corner, the Darkness gets pushed away.

So feed the Light wolf ... even if you have to grow the food yourself.

from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.comhttp://arvadapress.com/stories/Find-the-light-beyond-tragedy,220521?branding=15