Why They Can't Win...

I find my thoughts turning to Boston lately.

So much loss, and sadness, and despair, in one beautiful city.

I don't know how anyone survives losing a child, or a spouse, or a limb. I don't know how anyone can adjust to their "new normal" after something like this. I don't know how those most directly affected can be expected to ever again see the world as a place that is good, and safe, and kind.

It angers me to no end--infuriates me-- that so many are suffering, and that one family alone is dealing with the loss of their young son, and the life changing injuries of their mother and daughter.

I don't know what, if anything, can be comforting to families like theirs right now, and I wouldn't presume to suggest that, for them, anything "good" could possibly come from something so devastating.

So horrendous.

And yet.

And yet, I can't help but notice that, in response to so much darkness, there has come so much light.

An entire nation--and then some-- praying for one beautiful, wounded city.

Strangers helping strangers, without giving it a second thought.

Wounded people searching for--and finding--those who helped them when they needed it most.

Wounded soldiers reaching out to support those who will now travel a path they are all too familiar with.

Irish dance schools from all over the country--and the world--sending t-shirts so that a quilt can be made for the young Irish dancer fighting to keep her leg.

I don't know how anything so sad and heartbreaking can possibly lead to anything good.

But I know that in some small ways, it does.

I know that something intended to cause pain and devastation has unfortunately, absolutely, done that.

Without a doubt.

And yet, I also know that something that was intended to break the human spirit has instead reminded us of
 its beauty, and its resilience, and its strength.

I know that something that was intended to strip people of their faith--in God, in one another, and of all that is good in this world--has, for many, restored it.

I know that something that was intended to create an overwhelming darkness has also led to sparks of kindness, glimmers of hope, and shining examples of human love and kindness.

Life is forever changed for so many, and we can never bring back what they have lost.

But we can decide to focus on the bright sparks amidst the darkness.

We can do our part to make them brighter.

And we can have faith that, somehow, from the ashes of devastation, and despair, and destruction, there can arise something beautiful, and shimmering, and bright.