Be the Help

I hate this, I hate this, I hate this.  I hate seeing the horrific images.  I hate ignoring them. I hate feeling uninformed.  I hate reading about it.  I hate that this happened.  Again.  I hate living in a world where people shoot children, fly planes into buildings, and blow up runners and spectators.  I hate not knowing how to handle it or how to respond.  I hate feeling so completely and utterly useless.  I hate not knowing how to walk through this as a mommy.  I don’t want to expose my son to horrors, nor do I want him to not understand the world around him.  (Not that I think this is comprehendible for any age.)  I want to shield and protect him from all evil.  But that’s not realistic either.  How do I raise him to know what's happening but not be afraid?  What’s the appropriate response?  What do I say when he asks why Mommy is crying?

I don’t know much.  But I have repeatedly seen on Facebook a quote attributed to Fred “Mr.” Rogers - "Look for the helpers."  I like that.  I like the thought of looking to see who’s running towards a catastrophe instead of just away from it.   That inspires me to take it a step further.  BE the helpers.  Maybe there isn’t a disaster in my town today. 

But maybe today I can pack an extra apple and banana for the person I’ll inevitably see at the interstate exit.  Maybe I can take time to have a conversation and make eye contact with the person who seems lonely or has a hard time functioning socially.  Maybe I can give a warm hug or touch the hand of someone who might not get a lot of physical contact.  They may seem like small trivial things.  But if I can help show kindness and humanity to one other person; if I can be an example of goodness in a world gone mad for my son; if I can reach another person in love for my own sake, then in that moment, good still wins.  I am the helper.  We are all the helpers.  We have the power to show that love, even love for strangers, triumphs over evil every time.  And if, God forbid, I ever face terror close-up, I hope I am a helper.

We cannot bring back the lives or limbs lost yesterday.  We cannot restore children and teachers back to their now incomplete families.  We cannot undo how the world changed 11 ½ years ago.  But we can be helpers.  We can show one another, and our children, how to love.  We can be more than survivors, more than victims.  We can show compassion.  We can restore hope and humanity to everyday life.  Be the help in your world.

When my son reads in his history books the events of 9/11, the acts of terror, the atrocities that befall our modern world, I hope he asks me where I was, what I thought, what I felt, and what I did.  I will tell him - I was scared; I was saddened; I was angry; I was heartbroken; I was determined; and I decided to change the world for the better.  I chose to be the help.