A 20 Year Prayer

20 years ago today, it felt like the world cracked open when a bomb exploded under the Murrah building in Oklahoma City, my hometown. For me, that meant that whatever illusion of safety and naivety that was left in me, disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Everything that has happened after, from 9/11 to the Boston Bombing, has been "an addition to" that constant feeling that we are doing something terribly wrong and paying for it. Or perhaps we are failing to see what we can do that is right.

People who commit heinous crimes of uncountable consequence walk among us as our friends before we see their faces on TV news reports. They have family, friends, co-workers - people who say they saw some hints of a problem, but didn't guess the result. In no way do I mean to suggest that the fault lies with the family or friends of these murderers. Yet, I can't help but wonder what it is that allows us to continue thinking the responsibility to find  what causes these people to want to inflict this pain on so many lies with someone else. 

Your daily acts of kindness and peaceful tolerance are a necessity. Thank you. But there is so much more that can be done. Big acts, big results. Just think; there are also people among us who are trying to do great acts with big results. They are friends, family, co-workers. And your support of those efforts is required. 

If you encounter someone who is attempting to make a positive change in the hearts and minds of the human race, encourage that person, fund their project, spread their idea. Because, in the end, we are in control. You choose the forward path. We choose it together.