The Headlines in the News

I wrote this post this morning for another blog for which I occasionally write, but thought I would share what I wrote here as well.

The headlines hit me like a ton of bricks.
We were driving out of the mountains of West Virginia where we had been on our annual summer work trip. Twenty-two high school students. Eight adults. A week spent replacing a floor and building a handicapped ramp and adding a porch. All without internet, TV or news. Doing our best to do good.
Then the headlines hit.
Philado Castile.
Alton Sterling.
Lorne Ahrens.
Michael Krol.
Michael Smith.
Brent Thompson.
Patrick Zamarripa.
All dead.
All shot.

Here is what I hold onto as I struggle with the senselessness and heartbreak of it all.
I believe there are more good cops than bad cops or racist cops.
I believe there are more peaceful protesters than ones who throw stones or bottles or taunt others with names.
I believe there are more people who honestly want to find a way forward than who want to dig their heels into the ground.
I believe there are more people who want peace than who want to wage war.
I believe there is more goodness in the world than hate.
Despite the headlines in the news.

We have a responsibility to name and to protest and to work to change and transform that which is evil and wrong and hurtful and hateful. And, we have a responsibility to name and to hold up and to support and to embody that which is good.

May we find the strength and the courage and the wisdom to do both.