We Have Nothing To Fear Except Absolutely Everything

He was a neuroscience PHD student. He was involved heavily in his church. He was shy and well-mannered. He had never had so much as a parking ticket. But he randomly walked into a movie theater and brutally killed twelve people and injured fifty-nine for absolutely no reason. It's appalling how little sense the world can make sometimes.

Waking up to the tragic story of the killings in Aurora, Colorado makes the things I thought I'd be worried about when I woke up this morning seem pointless and contrite. Tiny bumps on the road of life, not real problems. Going to see a midnight showing of a new movie and winding up dead, that's a real problem.

To be honest, my first reaction to this story (my first reaction to any like it for that matter) is "The world is full of bad people and horrible things, I never want to leave my house ever again", and I suspect that's a pretty common thought. All I want to do on days like this is hold my kids close to me and forget that an outside world even exists. But the outside world does exist. And ultimately hiding from it won't do anyone any good. Neither will attacking outside sources. I keep waiting for the media fall-out, with people blaming everything from video games, to comic books, to Marilyn Manson (no one's blamed him for anything ridiculous and out of his control in awhile, so he's probably due) on this tragedy. I'm not looking forward to the bashing because I simply don't agree with it. I think that art can inspire and entertain and maybe even influence a person's actions to an extent. But art didn't pull the trigger, James Holmes did.

I think that despite this tragedy and those like it, we should try to remember that the world isn't full of bad people; there are amazing people doing amazing things every day, they're just a little bit harder to find. Fortunately, I know some really great people and I can give a couple of great examples of wonderful people in this crazy world.

First, My friend Alison who started the organization Humans Helping Humans, which does exactly what it sounds like it does: Helps humans. She's organized drives to help with the Colorado wildfires and is currently helping out the families of the victims of the Aurora shootings. Or my friend Jeremy, who inspires us all with his work to help find a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma through The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society . What both Alison and Jeremy have in common is that they are sincerely and proactively trying to make the world a better, more positive place. It's times like this when I try to think about people like Alison and Jeremy and how we can all strive to make positive contributions in this crazy world we live in. And how making positive contributions trumps living in fear any day.

What's funny is that during all of this, I keep thinking about something George W. Bush said right after 9/11. Now, I can tree-hug and Bush-hate with the best of them, but his words were actually amazingly appropriate then and I think they apply now. He said that people shouldn't be afraid to leave their houses or live their lives. If we didn't make an effort to keep going and keep persevering, it just meant the bad guys were wining. They want us to be afraid and the worst thing we can do is give in to fear.

I, for one, don't want to live my life in fear, no matter how scary the world is. And I don't want my kids to grow up learning to live in fear either. As easy as it would be to board up my windows, order my groceries online and never let my kids see the light of day again for fear of something bad happening to them, I'm going to take my chances. I'm going to continue to raise them to believe in good people and good things. I won't let my life be consumed by tragedies and "what-ifs". That's no way to live a life.

My heart goes out to the victims and the families of the victims of last night's shooting. I can't imagine what they're going through. My prayers are with them. My prayers are also with James Holmes' family. I always tell my kids that I will love them no matter who they are or what they do, and I can't fathom my own child doing something like this. I can't imagine those words being tested in such an extreme way. It must be agonizing for them.

In the meantime, I'm going to turn off my computer for the rest of the day and stop reading about this. I'm going to take my kids swimming and out in the sun to play. We are going to live our lives, not hide from them.