Sometimes this world is like a sucker punch to the
stomach. You can’t help but stand
there, immobile and gasping for breath at the sheer senselessness of it.
It has been hard lately to be optimistic. An old friend of
mine was just involved in a horrible car accident. Five years ago, another
close friend was in a coma when she was hit by a drag racer on the freeway. At least twelve people died last
night in a mindless shooting in Colorado.
And in the weeks prior to that, the internet was awash with stories of
rape, child molestation, and violence against and harassment of women. The world is bleeding deep, personal
pain, and history tells us this is nothing new. It seems that every time I
check my email, go online, or read a paper, something horrific has occurred. When
I walk outside, the number of suffering, hungry, and homeless in just my own neighborhood
is impossible to deny. Even for those of us fortunate to be healthy and have a
roof over our heads and food to eat at night, so many carry around deep
pain. The developed world has an
entire set of its own problems: eating disorders, cancer, obesity-related
illness, office anxiety. So many suffer in silence. The pain out there is fathomless. It’s palpable. It’s tangible.
A girl can only do so much, only be pulled so many
directions before it feels hopeless.
There are days that I don’t want to get out of bed. I want to pull the
covers up over my head and never speak to another human being again. Yes, this world can knock the wind out
of you.
But it can also take your breath away for other, more
beautiful reasons.
