God gives life and life is taken away. As we all know, life can be a beautiful thing. It can be beautiful if it involves love, caring, and giving. Life should include helping others and receiving help when people need it most. There are desperate times and there are magnificent times. On God’s Earth we should all cherish in the beauty that is available. There are friends and family, there are people who assist you, there are counselors and priests, and there are people who are just doing their job. We are blessed with these people and should thank God for their giving ways and be appreciative for what they have to give.
A sad day arrived just this past week when we lost another giver in our community. Officer Richard Francis, who served with the Chicago Police Department for 27 years, was shot and killed. He is survived by his wife and two stepdaughters. God bless them. May we honor his life and all of his vast accomplishments in aiding our community and dedicating his life to helping ours.
How can we stop the brutality and undermining of the good deeds that are performed for our fellow humans? Many have tried to stop violence by merely taking away guns or locking offenders up for a short amount of time. I am not sure if that’s the best way, but I believe that the teachings of our Lord should be a start. If people understood more of the goodness that exists in our lives, they would begin to see that life can be a beautiful thing.
Goodness starts from the soul and can reach out far past our sight. If we live our lives to create a loving community and teach our children by example to live up to teachings of Jesus, then we will have a foundation where gun control, the death penalty, and other harsh and violent repercussions of crime may not be as necessary as they are today. Holding back the rights of people is not a teaching. Teaching leads to awareness and understanding. When we understand, we should have a lower tendency to hate. When hate is low, crime and violence is low. We should all follow in what we have read and heard about Jesus and how he has instructed us to conduct our lives. Limitation is not the answer. Understanding is the answer.
