Grief and Gratitute

No doubt many of you have been watching and listening to updates about the Boston marathon act of terrorism and the Texas fertilizer explosion--as have I. Even for individuals who were not on either site or who knew no one in either arena, there can be a level of horror and grief, if not outright despair about "What is the world coming to?" It can feel like that when incident compounds incident. It is important to take a brain-balanced look at this, however. First, evil has been part of the human condition for the life of recorded history. Goodness, heroism, and self-lessness have, as well. While I will forever regret the loss of life and the families who are changed by injury or death, the individuals at fault would like us to get stuck on the sadness, to become frightened of life and living, and to become overly isolated and defensive. It is my brain's opinion that even the individuals who had life cut short wouldn't want this. Even as we do everything in our power to help the FBI find these individuals and bring them to justice on behalf of those who were injuried or killed, let us remain hopeful and advisably alert--courageously living life to its fullness. As Diane Sawyer put it, "Courage is fear that has said its prayers." Let us live in a state of gratitute.