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violent relationships

© Michele KayD

It's been an outwardly bright, cheerful spring day from my vantage point. I sat in the warmth, safety and luxury of my quiet home, looking out my patio doors, into the serenity of my daily view. As my eyes focused on the growing lushness of the grass with the tender yellow tufts of the first Dandelions scattered wildly throughout, and as I watched two graceful white butterflies dance together, it's been hard to grasp or understand how a world so beautiful could be so tainted. There is reassurance in the returning glories of spring which surround many of us, yet it's unfathomable how death and upheaval is plaguing the refugees and soldiers in Kosovo as well as the mourners of Littleton, Colorado on this same day.

I gazed out my windows this bright, otherwise pretty Sunday morning, yet the darkness still filled my heart and mind. Here, in my corner of the world today, the dogwood trees were blooming milky white, rose and coral; the larger trees were full of light green buds; the sky was a soft blue with gently wispy clouds. Neighborhood children played an innocent game of baseball in the community area, their laughter ringing in my ears, yet sending my mind and heart to another place, across the country.

I find it hard to accept the people who couldn't see that kind of today because their lives were cruelly interrupted, stripped of hope and beauty. I feel sorrow and pity for those lost souls among us, people we surely all pass along our everyday routes without ever realizing it, who are so empty --for whatever reason--and who can't get passed their own inner turmoil to even care about others, themselves, or the world that has given them life and opportunity.

I'm not one to usually comment within my forum here, or focus on "worldy events." This week, however, there simply is no escaping the current state of our nation and society, collectively. There is no room for lack of interest or concern over what is the main topic of every community across the United States and even beyond this week. Beyond the devastation abroad, the recent events closer to home make me feel so deeply distraught, not only because of my career and my hopeful future as a parent, but simply because of the harsh realities that must be dealt with in our society as a whole. I strongly feel this needs to be an undeniable wake up call, a way to, at the very least (and beyond unfortunately) turn these terrible massacres into a commitment for change. If not, those deaths and life-altering scenes will have occurred in vain. If we can make serious efforts to stage improvements in our schools, communities, and starting withing our own homes, then at least something positive will arise out of this carnage.