My heart goes out to France. Too many innocent lost their
lives or lost someone that they love. Too many were hurt and left to remember
the horror and pain witnessed on Friday evening. I pray for them. I hope that
they can heal and I hope that there will be some good to come of this tragedy.
However I hate to admit that I was not as affected by this
emotionally as maybe I should be. Last night a notification popped up on the computer
that said there were terrorist attacks in progress in Paris. I was saddened for
them, but it was all too familiar. You see, these things are happening every
day. Maybe not in such a prominent place, or maybe not in such large numbers,
but people are being killed or terrorized every day by those whose hearts have
turned cold. I’ve gotten used to it; I’m definitely not okay with it, but it’s
become the norm.
But after thinking through this, I’ve decided that not only
do I not want it to be, but it can’t be the norm anymore. Yes, the attacks and
unrest will continue. We won’t have peace here until a great change is made. But
I can decide and we can decide not to be unaffected by the commonness of the
pain going around. If one or fifty or five hundred souls are lost or even hurt,
we need to care. We need to reach out. In this cruel and cold world we are the
only ones that each other have. We are the only ones who can bring light into
the darkness.
So let us mourn with those that mourn. And let us comfort those
that stand in need of comfort, (Mosiah 18:9). We need not only to stand with Paris, but with
all of those who may be suffering.
