Emily Mulcahey
Opinion Edior
In light of recent world events, we find ourselves asking, quite simply, “why?”
Earlier this month, the people of the world came together as the attacks in Paris unfolded on international television. After hours of viewing the horrible footage, we put down our work, we made ourselves turn off the news and we called the people we love. Something about hearing their voices comforted us in a way that we can’t explain. We cried and asked God what could possibly make people commit these horrible atrocities?
We watched a woman named Caitlyn Jenner take the world by storm—and receive an uncontrollable surge of hatred from the deepest pits of human indecency.
We watched innocent, helpless Muslims attempt to fend off the backlash of detestation by those who categorized them with the radicals of ISIS.
We saw online memes denouncing the marriage of same sex couples, after they fought for decades to finally reach equality in the law.
This year in particular, we have been washed in the pure, deeply rooted hate of so many. And all we can say to ourselves to save us from this horrible wormhole that seems to be sucking in our society is this: choose love.
It’s not hard. It doesn’t cost any money. It starts with one person.
After the Boston Bombings, people came out to help. After 9/11, the same thing happened. After tragedy, we see this consistently. People stand together; cry together; join hands; and rebuild crumbled buildings, lives and futures.
The news does not often show us the good in the world, but focuses on the evil of humankind, leaving us feeling completely hopeless. But we are not. We can make a difference, our acts of love can change the world, even if it’s in a small way.
Almost two years ago, Americans were thrown into a sickening rage over the acts of one man in an elementary school in Connecticut. People of this country will forever remember where they were when they heard the news. Twenty-six lives were taken that day, and the lives of so many more were forever altered. Twenty-six families will dread what is supposed to be the best time of year, every year for the rest of their lives, because of one single act of senseless violence.
As many times as we ask “why?” we will never be able to understand. Perhaps those who commit these horrific acts were never told to choose love. Perhaps they lived in a world of hate. We have the power to change this for those around us.
J.K. Rowling said, “We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on.”
As the world around us changes so rapidly, perhaps things will happen that we don’t agree with. We must remember not to lash out in hate. We must not succumb to the malevolence that surrounds us in headlines, on television and online. We must choose light, and choose love.
There will always be hate in the world. There will always be types of evil that are unfathomable to us.
Be good. Do good. Choose love.
mulcahek12@bonaventure.edu
