When the world is so torn, so filled with hatred and hurt that it permeates every thing around us....when I am aching for people I never knew and so angry, so furious at the repetition of it all....when I am so helpless at the same time...I turn to silence. There truly are no words to encompass what much of my country is feeling these days. The tragedy of the past few days...the past few months...the past few decades. The reality that these deaths, murders, and mass shootings are repetitive--that they have become normalized--that is the true tragedy.

It is all so overwhelming and and heartbreaking, and so, I turn to silence. Not out of ignorance or fear--simply from grief.

Within all the disbelief and hurt, I still hold hope--that one day we might stop murdering each other in the myriad of ways that we do and instead build each other up. That we may love and appreciate the differences in our fellow humans. That we may practice good and patience, love and compassion. If it is within me, it is within you too.

May you be blessed, may you hold hope, may you do good.