What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?

“Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.” ~ John F. Kennedy

I woke up on Monday, October 2, 2017 to a fresh round of insanity. This time in Las Vegas. Twenty thousand or more people, trying to tune into the happy and joyful vibration of music. To unite as one for a few hours as they dance and sing. Then, one angry man demolished the energy. He lashed out with his weapons and shot down hundreds of humans.

I don’t know what his story is. It might matter. It might not. At the end of it all, he was chaos. He abandoned his connection to love and kindness. He let fear rule his heart, his mind, his destiny.

It is a pathetic waste. Of his life. Of the fifty-eight or more people that he killed. Of the five hundred or more people that he physically wounded. Of the thousands that he has mentally devastated. Of the horror that he unleashed upon his family. I was heartbroken to watch killer’s brother try to make sense of his sibling’s actions – he couldn’t. He was shocked and disgusted.

In a few weeks, the events of Las Vegas will fade for most of us. It will be another in a long line of mass killings that we turn away from because we have no idea how to change it. It’s beyond one person’s ability to cure.

How do we, as a people, fix what’s broken? Yes, laws and regulations need changing. Yes, guns don’t kill people – people kill people. We must dig deeper. How do we lead away from a culture of anger, disillusionment and greed? How do we stop demonizing The Other to explain away the emptiness and frustration within our deepest sense of self?

The Other might be based on religion, or sexuality, or skin color, or economic status, or education, or job, or a million different things. At the end of the day, we use those excuses as tools in our battle against the hole in our heart. But, we are so wrong.

We live on a bountiful planet with an abundance of gifts and beauty. I truly believe that there is enough for each of us, and that we are all a part of the universe. We are made of the bits and pieces that make up the stars, the Earth, the oceans, the mountains, the trees, the daisies, and the bumblebees. We are made of the exact same material. On the physical plane of atoms and in the spiritual realm of life force.

Use your head and your heart. Be kind. Be an agent for change through love and understanding.

It’s a challenge. I know it. I’m struggling. My spouse and I were unable to communicate our needs and fears on Sunday morning, so we had a fight instead. Now, we’re limping emotionally. Drained. That was yesterday and it has spread into today.

The news this morning is unthinkable, unfathomable. What lies at the center of it is what fuels the troubles of humans. Fear.

I’m not an expert nor a philosopher nor a shaman. I’m woman living in a suburb trying to make sense of her own life and that of the nutso world we live in.

All I can do is start.

I want things to be different. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. To feel connection. To other humans. To the life force. To the universe.

I pick up my cat. Her purr is the vibration of the universe. I snuggle my dog. Through my fingertips, I feel her heart beat in rhythm with the life force.

Some call it unconditional love. I have no idea, but it is simple in its beauty and powerful in its strength.

I think I will call my spouse. Peace, love and understanding begin right here.

“There is a LIGHT in this world. A healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometime lose sight of this force when there is suffering, and too much pain. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.” ~ Richard Attenborough

“Love is the vital essence that pervades and permeates, from the center to the circumference, the graduating circles of all thought and action. Love is the talisman of human weal and woe – the open sesame to every soul.” ~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton