Just Keep Being You

forget-me-nots

I was starting to think that I'm the only one who feels this way.  But I happened to catch a few minutes of "Ellen" yesterday and I noticed that she did exactly what I've been wanting to do ever since the horror of Las Vegas happened.  She spent the first half hour of the show with clips of previous shows highlighting the good things that people do.

And I just want to say this:

Just because this happened, doesn't mean that YOU are not a good person.  Just because a man, for whatever reason, performed this horrific act which killed so many and injured so very many more, doesn't mean that you should lose hope, find yourself lost in what you think is an evil world.

Because it's not.  Every day and every day and every day, the vast majority of people get up, kiss their spouses, hug and care for their little ones, worry about and love from afar those children or grandparents or friends who can't be with them for whatever reason. They go to work and do a good job because they know it's the right thing to do, if only to earn money to care for those they care for.  During the day, they smile at the barista who makes their coffee, or the Walmart checkout person, or their students, bosses or coworkers, and they say "Please," and "Thank you," and "Bless you," and even "Have a nice day," even if they themselves don't feel like it's a particularly nice day.  Even if it's a really really bad day and you don't feel like any of those social niceties, it still doesn't mean that you are a bad person and that you live in an evil world.

See, I think we are all just one tiny step away from doing something SO good for another person that it can change his or her life forever. I know that many, many people were saved through the actions of others in Las Vegas. But sometimes that defining moment of good can happen in a way that seems so small, even trivial, and yet is life-saving and life-affirming in a HUGE way.  When I lived in Iowa, and nearer to the world of fast food and drive-through-everything, instead of in the land where my cell phone tells me every day that my compute along an almost deserted stretch of highway will be "quick," with "light traffic,"  Bob and I would go through the McDonald's drive-thru for breakfast and pay for the folks in the car behind us.  Not so we could see their faces when they found out their breakfast was on us (although that moment was priceless when we happened to catch it), but because maybe that person, for whatever reason was being bombarded with that false narrative that he or she could not possibly be a good person, and that the world could not possibly be a good place.

I can't do anything about that shooter.  Neither can you. He was a monster, true evil, but also a true aberration.  There are others like him in the world....always too many, but I am not one.  Neither are the vast,vast majority of people...like you.

Kiss your spouse. Your kids and your dogs, too.  Tell them you love them.  Remind them often. Be kind to the guy driving too slow on the way to work. Tell your mail carrier he or she is doing a good job. Thank a veteran or a police officer for their service. Smile at everyone, just because you can. Then maybe find a way to add just a little more to the good in the world.  Tape a five dollar bill and a smiley face sticky note to the gas pump you just used. Pick up some litter. Remember to thank everyone who does anything for you. Add an extra "something" to a product you make or a service that you provide for someone else. And then don't look in the rear view mirror to see the reaction to your deed. Because you will never truly know the good you have done. Not in this life.

Don't lose hope.  Stop believing everything you hear on the news....for sure.  Look away from evil and see the good, every day and every day.

And don't forget to kiss your spouse....and your dog.  Unless they are already kissing each other....