A Light In The Darkness

While the last few days have been difficult, there have been some very bright lights. Prayers and good thoughts coming in from all over the country.  A rival football team forfeiting a playoff game so that our high school could take first place.  Kids setting aside their differences and supporting each other.

And my hubby writing a blog post for me, which I'm sharing below:

On Friday our community was devastated when a young man came to one of our high schools and took the lives of fellow students along with his own.  He succeeded in changing the lives of all who are involved in this community forever. 

As a father, I like to fix things and move on.  My wife and two boys came home with pain and grief that I had never seen before that day.  It's not that we haven't lost people in our lives before, but we have never lost them in such a senseless way, with such a presence of evil.  One of the victims was a fourteen year old girl from our neighborhood. She will never be seen in this life again because of this act.  Her family is forever changed, and as a parent, I can say that they will never recover.

We had boys and girls from the high schools at our home all weekend as the details unfolded, and I watched all the lives in my living room struggle to make sense of something that will never have reason associated with it.  As a fixer I could only stand there and watch, feed them a meal or two, and try to help them feel safe.  I did a poor job as a fixer this weekend.  (Editor's note:  Not true!)

On Sunday I tried to bring about some normalcy by running errands with my older son. We received a call from some friends who run a local animal rescue, saying that they were getting nineteen new puppies.  My wife and younger son wanted to see them so we headed that way.  When we arrived, I witnessed two women who have devoted their lives to saving animals that cannot protect themselves.  This cause is their absolute passion and they do it well.  I don't know exactly how many animals they have saved over the years, but I'm sure it's in the hundreds if not the thousands.  As my family was "oohing and aahing" over the pups (dad's not an oohing kind of guy), a thought struck me.

In this time of darkness that has enveloped our community, there are people who will not accept this in their lives.  They make an effort every day to protect God's creatures who cannot protect themselves, thus bringing light into dark.  We have now stood witness to an act of evil that has no equal in our community, yet these people shine their light by caring for these small puppies.  There are students from other communities that are saying NO, you are not alone in this, and we are standing with you.  There are people from all over the country that are going out and helping a stranger with some small act of kindness, to counteract the darkness.

I believe that in life, every action has an equal reaction.  For every darkness there is an equal amount of lightness bearing down.  While we struggle with questions of safety and normalcy and the black that is trying to envelope this community, I want to say that lightness is there.  As a fixer, I am going to cut a hole the size of a football field in my life so I can make it shine on my family and community.  God bless.