Our Hearts Are Broken.


There are times when the world makes even less sense than usual.

www.nydailynews.com

It’s an ordinary Saturday morning here in Sydney, 10 days before Christmas.  The day ahead promises lots of lazing about with a few chores to punctuate the serenity.  Families are out together for brunch, the never ending plans for Christmas celebrations are being put into action.  Laughter and happy voices ring out across the backyards around me whilst I hang out the laundry.

However, half way around the world, the consequences of yet another shooting rampage in yet another US  school breaks.  In the normally safe and orderly hallways of a Connecticut primary school, a gunman opens fire and kills around 30 people, 20 of whom were young children.  Even the President is moved to tears during his speech to the nation and the world.

Jarring doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling when you receive tragic news like this whilst you yourself are happily going about your life enveloped in the feeling that for you, life is good.  Everything is as it should be.  There cannot possibly be any pain or grief anywhere on this earth.

Senseless loss causes questions and issues to be raised.  Who can we blame?  Why did it have to happen to good and innocent people?  What of the suffering of those left behind?  Can our religions reconcile losses like this in a way that provides comfort and hope to grieving parents, grandparents and siblings?  If things always happen for a reason, but what good reason could there possibly have been for this?

Perhaps the raising of questions like this matters more then whether we can realistically find answers to them in time to prevent another incident from happening.  Because raising questions makes us all think about and re-evaluate our own lives and conscience.  We are forced to look at ourselves and our relationships with our own loved ones.  Do  the concerns that preoccupy us about the perceived failings of those around us really matter in the bigger scheme of things?  Can we look beyond all of this to keep love as the number one feeling we have towards one another?

The last 24 hours have reminded me that nothing in life is permanent, good or bad.  It really can all change in an instant.  What I do hope is that going forward, we will all have a genuine desire in our hearts to put love first.


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