Finding Peace: My Thoughts on The Vegas Shooting

It was a roller coaster, a roller coaster of emotions.  The day began with my daughter's soccer team losing to a team we were sure we were going to beat.  You just don't always know what to expect.

Then the day was filled with bliss- pure amazing bliss, pure peace, pure hope, pure desire to be a good kind person.

You see I was listening, along with my family, to the 187th annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

There were messages about families, about marriages, about studying and reading the scriptures, about learning to trust God the path he has for you.

There were messages about kindness and charity and calling out prejudice and racism.

"We need to embrace God’s children compassionately and eliminate any prejudice, including racism, sexism, and nationalism," Elder Ballard said. "Let it be said that we truly believe — and truly live — the words of the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi: '(The Lord) inviteth ... all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female ... and all are alike unto God.'"

"Anyone who claims superiority under the Father’s plan because of characteristics like race, sex, nationality, language, or economic circumstances," said Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve, "is morally wrong and does not understand the Lord’s true purpose for all of our Father’s children."

Then Vegas happened.

I woke up Monday morning, with my husband asking if I had heard what happened in Vegas.  I quickly pulled up twitter and was heart broken by what I saw.  I truly cannot comprehend what can drive a person to such acts.  I don't understand how someone's heart can be so hard, so cold, so deranged, so evil to do such a thing.

That morning I kept the radio off, not wanting my kids to hear the news, wishing I could somehow preserve their innocence a little longer.

But we can't run from this, we can't pretend it didn't happen. Real conversations need to happen, conversations not filled with blame or excuses, but conversations that can get to the heart, find common grounds and try desperately to find a real solution.

Calling names, saying people deserved this, and even downplaying it will never fix anything.  The world is in turmoil, something needs to change.  I truly believe it begins with you and I, with those who think differently than I do, those who were raised differently than I was and those who are so similar to me, finding that common ground, openly and kindly exchanging ideas and thoughts and doing what we can to help ensure this never happens again.

I wish I knew the exact formula for this to happen.  I wish I had the answer.  I do not, but I know I will try, to be a little more kind, to be a little more willing to listen, to be a little more willing to have the hard conversations and that discuss the hard topics.  As something needs to change.

But I have peace, I have hope.  I know there is a way for good to win.

Don't give up.