Look for the good

Yesterday everything was going along fine. And then came the news about Boston. After I did an initial search to see what happened, I shut it down. I just couldn't anymore. After Sandy Hook I cried for a month. The thought that someone can look at the face of a 6 year old and shoot him just ended me. The thought that someone can look at the face of anyone and kill them is beyond me. And the mass devastation at a big deal race like the Boston Marathon, well, I was just done for the day. So when Maureen Johnson said this on Twitter I took it as validation to step away from the news and do something positive.

I went home and I played with my kids. Well, I made supper and got Button to nap and then we ate. She had a bath and then Bub and I played two rounds of a board game before their bedtime. It was basically a typical night but I needed to look at his sweet face and all the innocence in it. I needed him to cheat at Trouble and try to get out of bedtime. I needed him to be 6 years old and not know the horrible ways the world can be wrong. Because looking at him reminds me of how beautiful the world can be and looking at him I know how much good there is in the world too. Sometimes that is hard to remember.

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother's words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers--so many caring people in this world." - Mister Fred Rogers