I knew I didn’t want to turn on the news today. I saw what was waiting.
Today they found the young woman who has captured the attention of the world, it wasn’t good news. Her smile is dimmed and her life extinguished. The arrested man is an illegal immigrant. Let the word wars begin.
Yesterday a man in Colorado was charged with killing his wife, daughters and unborn child, he wasn’t an illegal immigrant, he was an U.S. citizen, one of our own.
Those two incidents were like a starting gun at a horserace and battle is on. The opinions are flying because they can and the media will be overrun with debates and discussions, civilized ones, heated ones, ugly ones. All present and accounted for extensively.
My heart could not watch, my mind is engaged but I could not watch the debates not yet. I haven’t put on my boxing gloves and hardened my heart. Right now my heart is soft and pained for the families. I care for their sadness and heartache. ALL OF THEM.
The pain is not limited to only the obvious victims. In these cases, there are so many victims, deceased, living, friends, families, relatives. Lives have been altered forever, and no amount of debate will diminish that pain. I feel overwhelmed by the rush to point fingers and lay out blame and engulf myself in the fires of debate, when we only have the basic facts at this point. I believe that more of both stories will be learned as it unfolds in the media, the trial, and the verdict.
For me today was spent comprehending the enormity of the loss that results from these two tragedies. Loss of two daughters, grandchildren. Loss for the families of the accused, parents, children, spouses, lives forever changed by two senseless acts. I couldn’t get past this feeling of sadness for all involved.
I was not ready to engage in the legal/illegal wall debate, nor the race debate. I knew it would be there. I could not let down my guard and allow the raw opinions to invade me until I feel beaten and exhausted.
I felt as if the families are owed a day of understanding and compassion, before the firestorm begins for all of them. Today I am opening my heart to caring, not judging. That will come in time and not by me, by the court system.
So maybe in time we will understand that it is much more than race or legal/illegal status that allows these tragedies to happen, it is an evil heart and a corrupted, dark mind. And maybe it has nothing to do with how you got here but what you did when you arrived.
Until Next Time..
LJ
Eclectic Energy 