<![CDATA[Luminous Sojourns

The children and I awoke today to a beautiful sight. Snow! We were so excited to see it after months without precipitation. Our day started out very joyous. After the usual routine of getting ready for school, we headed out into the winter wonderland.

While carefully driving the children to school, we saw a perfect example of how we are all connected no matter the level of intelligence or status or slot on the food chain. Early this morning a deer had been hit and was lying in the snow on the side of the road. Often this sight probably goes unnoticed since it happens all the time. Today, however, I was touched and I definitely noticed. Standing over this deer was a friend of his/hers. It was nudging its fallen loved one, and would look up momentarily to the road almost as if saying, "someone help us please". It made me feel sad to see it.

I proceeded to drop the children off at school and had quickly forgotten about what we had just seen, my head quickly filled with all of the "stuff" to be done today and all the "stuff" to worry about. I began to take the return trip home and once again passed by the two deer. All of a sudden I was overwhelmed with emotion. The tears began to flow just thinking about how that deer must feel seeing its loved one limp and lifeless. I really looked at how unselfish the living deer was. It stayed by the loud highway and probably lost its herd so it could stay with the one it loved. I allowed my tears to flow the whole way home, feeling the loss as if I was the deer.

Once I arrived home, I understood why I had such strong emotions. After eating breakfast, I tuned in to Facebook and saw the tragic events that unfolded this morning in Connecticut. Needless to say, my tears began flowing even harder than before because I had understood the connection between the deer and the news of innocence lost. As with the deer, we too feel the pain and the loss of those children who will not see Christmas this year, go to the beach next summer, graduate high school, or get married someday. This is our connection.

These events are occurring more and more often. We have forgotten how to feel pain and sorrow when appropriate. We have been taught that asking for help is weak. We bottle it all up inside to look good outside, driving the darkness deeper into our hearts, until there is nothing left of the person who came into this world as pure as a ray of sunlight.

What kind of choices will a heart in this condition make? Acting out from the darkness of fear believing it is the only way to get love and attention. Are the individuals that committed these unthinkable acts as separate from the rest of us as we think? These tragedies are a direct reflection of the immaturity of our society as a whole.

Today I will hug my children and husband tighter. Today I will cry. Today I will laugh. Today I will feel the love in my heart that has been clouded by fear. Today I will sing. Today I will dance. And Today I ask that we pray...for those whose lives have been lost...for those who have taken lives...for those that need help, may they have the courage to ask for it...that our hearts become full of love displacing fear...and for humanity to become one family living in Peace with each other. Aho.