Today the world is a little less bright

I know I feel inadequate to the task that has tumbled around in my brain, but I also feel compelled to write about it.

You see, today the world is a little less bright.

Everyone has a unique fingerprint, footprint, even tongue print. I tell my students that no one person in the world will see things exactly as they do.  Their viewpoints are unique and special. Every single one of them provides the world with something that no one else can.

Every single person matters.

And today the world lost one. His pain was too big, so he took it away. My heart shatters every time I think of the phone call I received last night.  It shatters again when I think of having to tell my boys about the loss of a teammate.  The pain cuts deep.  The phone call changed the lives of everyone on that team - everyone who knew him.

My heart goes out to his parents, his family. I've spent the night praying for them -- for grace, for peace, for love, for light to shine again.  It won't be an easy process.

I know I was plagued with the demons of guilt and doubt last night. What more could I have done? What more could I have seen?  That's a human reaction to try and fix a horrible, horrible situation.  The fact is, I simply cannot change what has happened.

So I need to focus on what can happen. The potential for growing from a hard lesson.  What can I do for the people who are here?  The kids who live in my house, the kids who sit in my church, the kids who sit in my class, the kids who were on his team.  Notice them. Love them. Show them that yes, they matter.

Listen to them.

Kids struggle with the same guilt that plagued me,.  Was an off-hand comment a little too biting?  Why didn't they reach out just a little more?  How was their teammate internalizing his pain?  How can they fix it?  Unfortunately they can't.  Instead they have to grow.  Adults can step in and help the growth become a positive.  The lesson is that as humans we need to be a little kinder because you never know what someone is dealing with.

I wish we all understood this perspective.  Be a little kinder.  Smile.  Celebrate the fact that we are in the struggle of life together.  Design a life where we build each other up instead of tear each other down - the people you know, and the people you don't.

The world is forever changed when it loses a perspective - a child, a future generation. So for today, the world is a little less bright.