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I sat down to work on some algebra but my thoughts kept turning to the violence the past week has brought:
A school shooting here in my community of Omaha, NE that left 2 dead and one injured .
A shooting in a shopping mall in Tucson, Arizona that left 8 dead.
The shooting of a Congresswoman who mere days before took the oath of office and that took the lives of a child, a judge, and many others.
Suspicious packages detonated in Maryland.
What a way to begin a new year that a mere 9 days ago held hope for peace, freshness, love and kindness.
In the face of events such as these, perhaps it is only human nature to ask why, to look for reasons, to lay blame on society's ill (of which there are many) and to spin like a web answers to those questions that may never have answers.
Large scale violence shakes us to our souls and invites introspection. We question upbringing, influences, availability of guns, emotional scars and many times we wonder what we as a society or an individual have done to contribute to these occurences. Have we extended love and understanding to another? Have we turned a blind eye to the outsider and the inconvenient reminders of poverty, homelessness, age or neglect? We vow to change, to be kinder and to pay more attention. Sometimes we pray more, we hug our children more, say "I love you more" and even cry more. Pain is palpable, even if those affected were not a part of our own families. We vacillate between anger, disappointment, fear, love for those who lives were lost or forever changed in an instant. We wish for comfort.
Perhaps we need a lullabye. Oh, how I can hear the pooh-pooing of that suggestion already. "Psshhhhhh only children need lullabies". I say we all need lullabyes. After all, what is a lullabye? We sing lullabies to small children as we rock them to sleep, to calm them when they fall and get scraped up and when they're scared. Yet as adults, we fall and get scraped up, we hurt emotionally, we get upset and we keep going and going. We try all manner of things to quell the pain - tears, writing, alcohol, tobacco, exercise - the list goes on and on. Yet maybe what we need most is a gentle touch and a lullabye. A "there, there. It will be OK". Because perhaps it really is that simple.
Perhaps all the broken hearted people need a calming song, a change in the frenetic soundtrack that is our lives and a chance to hum a new tune. A song, a melody or a harmony to reset the metronome differently. Think about it.
My adult lullabies are Dire Straits' "Why Worry"
Elvis "Walk A Mile in My Shoes"
Blind Boys of Alabama "Give A Man A Home"
K D Lang "Hallelujah"
Susan Boyle "Don't Dream It's Over"
Bee Gees (yes, I'll admit to liking them) "Gotta Get A Message to You"
Ben Harper "There Will Be A Light"
Timothy Schmit "Secular Praise"
Elvis "You'll Never Walk Alone"
Anne Murray "A Little Good News"
And with each tune, we are reminded of something different - hope, vulnerability, kindness, love, faith, compassion and so much more. We gather the strong to go on, for that is really what the lullaby does. Maybe that's all we need.
