I woke up from a nap with the baby to see the news. They were being cautious in their reporting. Suspected bombs. Suspected terror event. The President gave a speech and it was the same thing.
It doesn't matter who did it. It was still an act of terrorism. I know when we say the dreaded t-word we think Middle East, but that's not always the case. It's disingenuous to pretend it's anything else.
More than 140 people are injured. 3 are dead.
How is that anything but an act of terrorism?
Today was a difficult day for a lot of people. People are dead. Families are waiting to see if their loved ones will recover from their injuries.
Sometimes, it's hard for me to come to terms with the fact that I am raising a child in a world like this. Where terrible people do senseless, terrible things. Where we are inundated with news and video and a constant stream of information. We've sat with the news channel on most of the day, listening to the same information over and over...watching the same horrific videos over and over.
When 9-11 happened, I didn't have a working tv in my dorm room. I didn't spend time watching the news coverage on tv. I didn't obsess over the news that was coming out on the internet. It's probably a blessing that I didn't.
There are terrible things that happen in our world every day. Sometimes, it's almost impossible for us to bear. And we should know about these things, because it's important for us to be aware of what is happening in our world. But we shouldn't obsess over them.
Today was a difficult day for many people. It was a difficult day for me, too. But all I could do when I watched the news was hug my son and kiss his head and tell myself that I will try to make the world a better place for him.
It was a difficult day, but there were beautiful things that happened.
When the bombs went off, people in the crowds ran towards them to help one another.
The city banded together, and the world has shown their support and love.
Even in times of darkness, there are always bright glimmers.
My own personal glimmer, as always, comes in the form of my son. He makes everything better.
Tonight was Spaghetti night. He giggled and made a mess and was completely joyful. The sadness didn't diminish his light whatsoever. It didn't change him or make him less.
You can't look at this picture and not see some joy there. On days like today, we all have to find our own source of joy. We should do that every day, but especially when things are difficult. During the hard times, the joy is sometimes all we have.
No comments:
Post a Comment