Prayers For Paris, Sweet Paris
I’m sad. I’m angry. I’m heartbroken. I’m furious.
As news reports flood in of attacks across Paris, with so many dead, others injured, and hostages being held at a concert venue, I don’t know what to do but pray and cry for a world that is so broken. The rage and hatred and fear is everywhere now, soaking into the very fiber of our being, desensitizing our souls, overshadowing the good, spreading across continents, and burrowing in our own hometowns. Nowhere is safe. No one is exempt. Nothing is so innocent anymore, so sacred, that it can’t be destroyed.
What will it take?
What will it take to live in a world where we realize we’re all human, living on this one planet, with this one life in this one moment, right now? What will it take to stop judging from a place of self-righteousness and understand that what unites us is greater than what divides us? What will it take for us to stand up and make something better of ourselves, to do something more for the people around us and after us, to focus less on the self and more on each other with empathy and compassion because that’s the only damn thing that makes a difference, the only damn thing that matters--not fame, not fortune, not objects. But how we treat each other. How we see each other. How we relate to one another.
What will it take for us to step outside of our denial and be strong enough, brave enough, to stand up and say enough is enough.
It’s so easy to despair and give up, to throw your hands up and seek shelter in your little pocket of the world because the world seems beyond repair. I get it. I hate and love this world all in the same breath. I hate what we’ve done to it, what we’re doing to each other, and I don’t want to be here anymore. But I am still here. And that’s the difference. We’re all still here.
That’s where it all starts. That’s how it spreads. Just as quickly as hate and anger and fear can spread, so can love and peace and hope from just one person. We can’t save the world by ourselves. We can’t do it all on our own, but by being one spark–just one–in a world filled with darkness, we can help spread the light.
Love burns brighter than anything else. And fire has a way of catching.
