Fight the monsters with #26Acts

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It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost one week since the Newtown, CT tragedy.  It honestly feels like months that I’ve been grieving for these children I don’t know, for their families who I’ve never met.  I’m a mom and a teacher.  My heart feels the pain in so many ways.

#26Acts

My way of coping is to carry on with life as normal.  I’ve always been this way.  After I had a miscarriage a few years ago, I had to go back to work right away because that was normal.  Avoiding the issue may not be healthy, but it helps me to move on and deal.  You might have noticed that I didn’t stop the blogging as many other bloggers did.  It’s just not my way.  I had to carry on with life until my soul was ready to face the pain.  After watching the news and reading all of the heartbreaking stories for several days, I felt that it was time.  The biggest reason is that I finally felt some glimmer of hope.  Thanks to Ann Curry’s #26Acts movement, I feel like there’s something more coming out of this senseless horror.

How do I tell my kids that there really ARE monsters in the world?  There are people who seek to hurt others, people who don’t accept society’s rules of right vs. wrong regarding murder. How do I explain to my children that these monsters don’t stand out with green skin, twelve eyes, or claws…..instead, the monsters are the people we least expect them to be.  Real live people who live in our neighborhoods, who shop in the same stores as we do, who smile at use while we wait in line at the post office?   I finally have an answer for my kids.   Yes, there are monsters in the world but there are a LOT more people who are fighting those monsters.  There are helpers who race to danger to save the lives of others.  There are heroes who sacrifice their freedom for our own.  There are kind, good hearts who look for ways to make a moment better for someone else.   Instead of focusing on the monsters in the world, let’s celebrate the good people in the world.  Let’s BE the good people in the world.

I started yesterday with my #26Acts.  I noticed an elderly woman who was struggling with her cart after unloading her groceries.  I offered to take her cart to the cart corral for her.  Although she declined, saying she could do it, the smile on her face showed how pleased she was that I had asked.   Who knows, maybe no one had talked to that sweet lady all day.  Either way, we both left feeling a bit happier.  No, that doesn’t change what happened at Newtown.  But maybe, just maybe, if we each try to make every day a #26Acts day, we can change what happens from now on. To me, it’s not just a way of paying it forward.  This time, it’s about being able to do something kind for someone on behalf of those 26 lives.

I read this verse in Acts 26 (verse 16) and thought it was applicable to the idea of standing up for what is good and right in the world.

 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

If you’re jumping in the #26Acts thing, please share your ideas!  I’d love to have some new things to try.

Check this out….




Comments

  1. I love how you tried to help that lady. I totally understand what you mean about carrying on with life, I tried to do the same, but there was a nagging feeling that I needed more. This gives hope that there are good people in the world. Thanks for linking up. xx
    Isra recently posted…The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Newtown, CT #26ActsMy Profile

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  1. A cool story says:

    […] for the person who took a little time to make someone smile.   Whether you’re doing #26Acts of kindness or just being a good citizen, it’s always a good time to do the right thing.  It […]

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