Are You Feeling Reactionary to the KC Shootings?

Image Source:  WikiCommons

The latest shootings in KC is horrific.  Let me say that first.  Human life is too precious to be brought down in a state of pure hatred of another simply due to their heritage or religion.  That goes for any heritage or religion!  My heart and prayers go to the families and loved ones that surround that situation.

But, this post is a call to keep all of our knees from the instinctual jerking action.  Breathe with me.  

This is an opportunity to show love on an exponential level.  One man's terrifying and horrible actions can be overcome by multitudes of more people showing love and compassion.  Am I saying that we show the shooter compassion?  Well, yes.  I'm not saying that what he did doesn't deserve justice, but showing hatred for him (or those who unfortunately think and believe as he does) or to him does nothing to nullify or counter the hatred he's already shown and continues to promote.  

Don't make him a martyr to his cause.  Take the nails away from him as he climbs the cross of his choosing.  Show love.

How?

Don't speak negatively of him or his beliefs.  Yes, I disagree to the Nth degree with them, but that doesn't mean that I lambast them, point by point.  I don't paint every person who may look or sound like him with the same broad brush.  Place your focus of speaking on sending love, peace and healing to the situation.  Nothing more. Nothing less.

I understand the power of conditioning and programming by the generations who preceded us.  It's too easy to fall into the same patterns of our parents or people of influence before us.  Some people are never given the genuine opportunity to learn anything different.  Some people have it so engrained in their being that there's no room for much of anything else.  I feel compassion for the shooter because he has been shown nothing but hatred for others and he chose to continue that path to this point of utter destruction for many.  I weep for him as much as I weep for the unneeded loss of life.

This is a call out for those who seek love with humanity - for those who wish nothing but love to become the primary emotion we all feel for each other.  Love should be the only motivating emotion that leads us to speak and act.  This man, clearly, wasn't shown that path, and there are others like him.  Perhaps not to the degree he is, but they are out there and need to be shown something different.  

Again, breathe with me, here.  Don't let any emotion other than love rule your reactions in this situation.  Keep your focus on love, peace, harmony, understanding and compassion.  Take this opportunity to be the example of that in the light of hatred now hitting every news station.  

Gandhi is often quoted as saying, "Be the change you wish to see in the world", however, those are not his exact words.  The closest quote found by him states, 

“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do.”

I think this actual quote is far more potent than the abbreviated version, don't you?  Read it again and let it simmer, soak in and meld with your intentions.  Don't give hatred in return for hatred.  That continues the cycle instead of stopping it in its tracks.  Feel whatever you need to feel, of course, but let your actions and speech reflect a higher nature of being.  I'm right there with you.