A World of Pain
Task 47, January 23 to January 30.
“Nothing good ever comes of violence”. Martin Luther
Violence visited the lives of my friends this week. The randomness of the act floored me, and I simply cannot find the words to express my sorrow for their loss. And when I find the right way to express my feelings to my friends, I will do so in private, and not in this substack.
But I will speak to violence.
Violence is not a moral referendum. It is not a punishment for poor choices. It is an ugly, unpredictable part of life that sometimes crashes directly into people who did nothing wrong.
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That realization is deeply unsettling.
It rearranges our sense of reality.
Suddenly: the ordinary feels fragile, familiarity is unsettling, and the future is less guaranteed.
And dealing with it is difficult. It can make you angry and afraid. It can cause you to seek assurance–when none can be given.
But the presence of violence in our society, and the chance that it may find its way into our lives is NOT a reason to harden ourselves. On the contrary, it should draw us closer to those we love and remind us that pretending that tragedy only belongs to other people is dishonest.
Violence will untether us; violence will terrify us, but violence will not control us.
Task: Think…