Seeking Peace After The Norwegian Massacre

For the most part, I have chosen to disconnect myself from the barrage of bad news that the mainstream media spews out at us on a daily basis. For years I had the newspaper delivered to my house and would dutifully sit and attempt to keep myself well-informed. After a while, I started to notice how my mood was being affected by this habit of reading the daily paper and watching the evening news. Lead stories and headlines about shootings, child abuse, domestic violence, robberies, automobile accidents and fatalities, etc. over time, were taking their toll on my mental well-being. I made the decision to limit my personal exposure to all the negative news stories and only follow stories that directly impact my life. I began asking myself: Do I really need to know all the gory details of these stories that don't directly effect me or my own community? What benefit does knowing all of these disturbing things have on my personal life? Is there anything that I can do to change this situation?  

Despite my avoidance of disturbing news, the other day when I logged on to my laptop and the headlines were all about the Norway Massacre, I made the choice to click on the various links and bear witness to this horrrific event. I watched a video clip of a 16 year old girl who was hunted down by this shooter, shot in the leg, and pretended to be dead in order to survive. I watched the expression on her beautiful young face as she retold the story to a reporter. She looked remarkably like my own teenage daughter with light brown hair and blue-eyes. She spoke with a slight quiver and words occassionally caught in her throat - so clearly traumatized and in shock from what she had endured. I found myself feeling her pain as tears rolled down my cheeks. I wanted to reach across the world and hold her in my arms and whisper to her "Everything will be okay!"

These sorts of events rip a hole through our collective hearts. Ironically, this summer camp was for youth who want to embrace multiculturalism. These young people all had the idealistic belief that the Norwegian people could live compatibly with others from around the world, many whom are Arab Muslims.   

The van that I cart my kids around in has a "CO-EXIST" bumper sticker on it. It's there because I have the strong belief that as human beings we need to respect one another's beliefs. This world belongs to all of us who inhabit it. I don't feel the need to control or demoralize others. Racial or religious supremacy has never made any sense to me. This sort of ignorance and fear of one another only breeds hatred, suspicion, and loss of life.

My heart goes out to the families who lost children and to the survivors who now will have to live with the memories of this evil event for the rest of their lives. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the Norwegians who are now living through the aftermath of the violent acts of an insane warped mind. 

To get your own Co-Exist (Tolerance, Peace, etc.) bumper sticker go to: Peacemonger.org.