Thursday, July 23, 2015

Priez pour Lafayette

It's a terrible feeling to receive a text saying that there was a shooting in Lafayette.  It's terrible to immediately check Facebook for confirmation, to see it plastered down the length of your newsfeed, to see it as the top trending news story, to see it as the first article on Yahoo, to turn on the TV and see the same scenes played out over again under a caption of BREAKING NEWS.

I think about how there are people in this sweet and friendly city who simply went to see a movie and will not be returning home, and I feel sick.

I think about how Lafayette was nothing but kind to me for the three and a half years I called it home, even when I was miserable and wanted to be anywhere but there.  I think of all the familiar places that become standard from the mere act of living there, and of all the lovely nooks and crannies I got to explore with Michael as we geocached our way through the town and came to know it as well as I know my hometown.  I think of all the times I spent in that very movie theatre.  Tuesdays were student discount nights with your UL student ID card.

Shootings happen, but they happen elsewhere.  They don't happen so close to home.  They don't happen to people you know.  To be dealt the horrific crime against the beautiful Mickey Shunick and then to have the community at the mercy of a random shooter?  My heart aches for Lafayette, and yet I have seen the people rally before.  They will rally again.

At a difficult time in my life, I once asked a close friend if he thought people were inherently good or inherently self-serving.  I was surprised when he answered good.  And I have accepted that as my own belief.  I do believe that people are inherently good.  I have seen it time and time again; I have so much evidence of it, and that makes it all the more shocking when things like this happen.  People are inherently good, but I do so wish that it didn't take instances of the opposite to reveal that goodness.

Please, be kind to one another.  Be good to the people in your life and to those that you meet in passing.  Be careful.  And please, live out your inherent goodness day to day, not just when a tragedy begs for it to be seen.  Please let love be your guiding force that defines your actions so that we may all find peace.

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