Grieving for Las Vegas

There is nowhere for me to take this heaviness but to the page. Here I am not alone. I am grieving for Las Vegas with you. For the terrorism that has found it's way into our daily lives. Witnessing a lack of respect for the sacred, preciousness of human life.

I would like to say to the world today, Wait, let's take a pause. For just one day let's all walk away from the wars and the rhetoric, the killing, and the evil. I'm overloaded. Last night as I went to bed there were too many news stories in my mind. The immediate preservation of life in Puerto Rico. Serial cannibal killers in Russia. Hate marches. Burned bodies in cars. It has really gotten more than my tired mind and heavy heart thinks it could bear.

When I woke this morning after a restless, anxious night, I saw news alerts about Las Vegas and the by minute updates on my phone. It floored me. As well it should. The day we begin to shrug our shoulders and accept murder as just another day in the news is an indication of not just the state of the world but the state of our souls. I'm not there yet. My soul is heavy and hurting. I'm left with a sense of the helplessness we all feel when we want to help from miles away. My only gift now is prayer. It's all I've got.

If you should be feeling a little anxious also if the news has saddened and shocked you I'd like to encourage you to consider talking to a counselor. This site offers a search engine to find counselors in your city. This is serious stuff. If you find yourself emotional and moved—so be it. But that hour or day can move into a deeper depression. A dark and hopeless vortex.

I've never felt more concerned about the political schisms and diatribes in this country. In the midst of so much pain, loss, and destruction if there has ever been a time we need to lay down our political preferences, parties, and staunch positions of 'I'm right' and you're wrong,' that would be today. Not tomorrow. Today, right now.

Last week I was at my nephew's football game when the announcer asked that we have a moment of silence for all those who had suffered through the recent hurricanes and were still suffering. In a small southern town on a Friday night, all came to a complete standstill. The moment moved into minutes, then stretched seemingly beyond that. I hoped those in Houston, Florida, Puerto Rico, and all the islands were somehow aware and felt that moment of reference, of prayer, of respect. I hoped it would become a tangible substance that would move in their direction and bring them peace. And, hope. Which is a really tough word for me this morning because I think—hope for what?

Maybe today is not the day that I can hope for peace in the Middle East, all humanitarian efforts to reach Puerto Rico in time, for the end of hate crimes. Today might just be the day that I can't reach farther than my front yard. To stop hating my neighbor on any given day, to show a greater amount of kindness as I move through the hours, to lift up Las Vegas in prayer throughout the day. And to write a few words suggesting a cease-fire of angry posts and pointed fingers.

Like that silence at the football field could we possibly have a silence that shows a sorrow for what has happened in Las Vegas and a support for the humanitarian efforts taking place to save the lives of those in the islands who are a part of us? Could we have a social media blackout, skip all the updates on the Kardashians, turn off Fox news and CNN if they are discussing gun control or navy ships or seem to be the slightest bit pro-Trump or anti-Trump. There will be plenty of time to argue, discuss, and hopefully, at some point come to a table of agreement that actually accomplishes something worthwhile and lasting concerning all of our problems.

Could we just for one, single, solitary day bow our heads and hold our tongues as one country and one people? And if that isn't even possible anymore could we do it as human beings? Should prayer and thoughts of love and light hold the power people attest to then I pray for a shock wave of unified prayer that rolls across this nation today and carries us into tomorrow and beyond.