Take a Moment & Stop

In a single, solitary second in time, lives change.  A place where dreams become a reality for some, changed, and become a nightmare.

I had a great morning with my girls doing a little shopping, and enjoying the school vacation, just as many others were doing yesterday.

I didn't know about this until my mother called us yesterday and asked if we had the news on.  So of course, I immediately turned the television on.

My girls were in the kitchen baking cookies.

As we began to watch this unfold in front of us.  I could see the look of fear in my girls eyes.  How do you explain this?  How do you comfort your child who is clearly old enough to understand this?

Sadly, events like this are happening all too often, and explaining the whys and how's to our children have become all too common around dinner tables across America.  Parents have to try and explain why there are people in this world who want to hurt others, and while my girls are older, I don't envy the parents who have younger children.  It's hard to try and explain events like this in their terms.

I checked my phone, and my Facebook news feed, and Twitter feed were just running crazy.  The more I read, the more upset I was becoming.  The Social Media Virus was spreading like wildfire.

False accusations, incorrect casualty numbers, opinionated speculations were in the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands.  I read words like, "Islamaphobic" "Pakistan" "Cowardness" and "Terrorism".

News Media coverage of these events haven't stopped.  24/7 video footage seem to be on a continuous running loop.  The images are raw, emotional, and devastating.  While we all need to be informed, right now we need to let the officials do their jobs, we need time to grieve, and we need to not spread mis-information.

Now is not the time to hate or speculate. Now is the time to hug your loved ones, to lend help, and create solidarity.  Now is the time for strength.  

That said, I am shutting the television off, unplugging my phone, and shutting down my computer for the day.