Sea of Tears

Last night, while I was tucking in my 9-year old son, Henry, he mentioned that he had been feeling “off” all day, like something was just not right. I asked him to tell me more about what he was feeling. He shared what had been floating in his head: “It feels like there is this big pool of water beneath me. It looks really deep and I am scared that I may fall in and not be able to get out.” I sat there stunned. My intuitive, caring son could feel the pain and tears of all of the people in the United States and beyond who were grieving the loss of so many. I told him that maybe what he was visualizing was a sea of tears.  And then I assured him that eventually those tears would help wash away the pain, but that we will never, ever forget the people we lost on June 12, 2016.

I can’t begin to imagine the broken hearts of the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, partners and friends who lost a loved one yesterday. I can’t comprehend how anyone could hate so much that an act so atrocious feels justified. What bothers me the most is the blatant disregard of human life. And it’s not just what happened yesterday; the hate has been here. It’s been bubbling up to the surface every day. It rears its head on the Internet, on my Facebook feed, in unabashed violence in our communities. You can feel it like Henry felt it – it’s pervasive and it scares the hell out of me.

So when Henry drifted off to sleep I started thinking about what I could do to help the victims and families and also quell the hate that has its grip on so many. It seems so simple, but I believe it’s love. Perhaps Lin-Manuel Miranda said it best:

I have lived my life knowing that I will always be loved and supported. I am surrounded by a caring community that shelters and cares for me and my family. I have been given the gift of love and I am going to take its bounty and share it with everyone. How, you ask? I am going to love deeply, furiously, passionately. I am not going to blame, I am not going to judge, I am not going to hate – I am going to love everyone. Because right now, my priority is making this world a better place, and from where I am sitting, that’s the only way to do it.