I’ve been struggling with how to digest the recent events in Connecticut. After our own little taste of violence with the police chase that ended in our neighborhood, I gave some serious thought to finally buying a firearm to protect my little slice of heaven. Needless to say I was stopped in my tracks when I learned of the tragedy of the 26 innocent lives lost as the result of a lunatic with his mother’s guns. What does this mean for us, thousands of miles, and hopefully thousands of similar experiences away from a horor such as this? As I wandered the neighborhood with my two furry canine friends tonight, it occurred to me that more negatives like this need to be turned into positives. My wife reminded me of this today when she checked off Random Act #5 as she works her way to 26 Random Acts (Google it if you haven’t already heard about it) to commemorate those lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary. While hers was a simple act, I was impressed to see her stop for a moment in her running around to think of others that she will never meet. I couldn’t help but imagine that if every time we learned of a life lost to a random act of violence, what would happen if we all countered it with a random act of kindness. My best guess is that at a minimum, we’d all be a lot happier and more grateful for what we have.
As we make our final trips to the mall for last minute gifts, as we cram into the grocery store looking for the last ingredient for our holiday dinners, and as we speed through town to get to that holiday event, take a minute to slow down, and see what random act you can do to celebrate one of those innocent lives. My guess is you’ll add a little sparkle to your holiday season and realize how good we have it here in Valmonte.
Merry Christmas!
26 Acts of Kindness
