Today’s tragedy in Las Vegas is beyond words for most people, especially as a spectator to the horrific ordeal. Although not personally or directly affected, it is still gut-wrenching nonetheless. Human beings — people — mothers — fathers — sons — daughters — human beings! were killed with such cruelty and heartless actions by another human being! It is too hard to comprehend. What is wrong with a human being that they could go on a shooting spree of such mass casualty and well-thought out plans and never once stop to pause and wonder in their own mind what wire got crossed in their head? I guess they must not take pause and even question a crossed wire because for some incomprehensible reason they think what they are planning is “ok” or “right” or “must be done.” So many of us simply don’t get it. But that is actually a really good thing because the more we don’t understand it the more we could never do something like this. I want more people to not comprehend the tragedy.
But enough about the killer. We give these people and these horrible acts on other human beings way too much attention. We want to understand and we want to know what causes such evil — I get it. But I think we want to know about these monsters because we want so desperately to peel them apart layer by layer to better understand, but deep down we want to unveil a true monster — the kind that scared us from when we were kids. We want to find a monster in the middle of the bones and flesh that make up a “normal-looking” person because that is the only thing that could explain such a tragedy. However, there is never a real-life monster that we uncover. It is always another human being, and one that looks just like us. And that is frightening! It doesn’t give us something to point to and directly blame. It keeps it a gray area and makes us wonder how many monsters in “normal-looking” clothing are running around.
But I can’t fret over wondering where the monsters are hiding. I can’t manage that. I don’t know where to start. I can’t “control” that. My recent life’s mantra has been “let’s identify what we can control and focus our attention there.” I actually think this is a mantra that I will have for a very long time and one that I strongly encourage everyone reading this to adopt.
- I can’t control who the next mass murderer is going to be, but I can control how I treat people in my life — with love and kindness! — in all ways possible, from smiling at a person you walk by in the hallway, holding the door for someone, and remembering to say please and thank you.
- I can’t control when a wire gets crossed in someone’s head, but I can control who, when and how often I tell someone that I love them dearly and appreciate having them in my life.
- I can’t control what might set someone off and trigger hatred that runs deep in their veins, but I can control being a good member of society by earning money, paying my bills, donating to charity, and being generous to others when I can.
- I can’t control where the next tragedy may appear, but I can control how I choose to live my life and that is by still going out and enjoying life and spending time with those that I love doing what I love.
- I can’t control how people choose to devastate countless lives, whether it be with a gun, driving a vehicle into a crowd, or using a bomb, but I can control how I prepare myself when going to large venues and taking a moment to talk through a “game plan” with those whom I travel with.
- I can’t control how, why, at what age, and in what cold-blooded cell evil enters someone’s soul, but I can control how I will keep my mind open, loving, clear, focused, clean, and full of positive light and love to ensure that I breath positive vibes and pass that on to as many people as possible.
- I can’t control how the loved ones of those who died from this tragedy will grieve, but I can control my prayers for them which will be loving and praying for their peace and eventual forgiveness so the circle of hatred can stop.
- I can’t control how the survivors of the tragedy feel and process their heavy emotions, but I can control my well wishes and sincere desire for them to try and forgive, use the horrific experience to love deeper than they ever knew possible, and to not let this experience taint them in a negative way.
- I can’t control how the readers of this blog will react to this, but I can control and know that I am writing it just as much for a way for me to understand this tragedy as it is to hopefully spread more love and hope throughout the world.
Evil is something that evil people want to be feared. Evil thinks it has power. Evil is just a coward. Evil doesn’t understand that love always prevails. Love brings people together and whenever evil enters this world, people come together. Evil is stupid. Stupid because it doesn’t understand that the more evil it brings down, the more it is bringing people together.
My sincerest condolences for anyone who was touched directly by this tragedy. If you lost a loved one, I pray that their beautiful soul has made a peaceful entrance into heaven. If you were personally at the event and directly experienced the tragedy, I pray that you seek professional help to process the horror that you witnessed because that is way too much for anyone to handle on their own. For all the rest of us that experienced this through the media or through a friend of a friend, I pray that we use the pit that is in our stomach to live life a little deeper, hug our loved ones a little tighter, and tell those around us how much they mean to us. THAT is something that we can control….and that is beautiful!
