The Remedy

This is how my morning started...
My mom came into my room saying they were about to leave for church and that I shouldn't go outside and to keep every door and window locked. She said there was a shooting at the YWAM campus down the street and the shooter is still at large. 2 people (kids) died and 2 are in critical condition.
What a way to wake up.
As I tried to go back to sleep, I started to feel "the weight of the world on my shoulders," if I may quote the brilliant Bryce Avery. He has this song called "Do You Feel" and it's about seeing so many things wrong with the world and feeling the pain the universe has dealt out to so many around us, near and far, and simply not knowing what to do about it. At some point there is a moment where you look around at world hunger and war and meaningless acts of violence on young people trying to make a difference and think that the situation is helpless.
But I've found the remedy for feeling helpless is to simply help. So I've been sitting here thinking about ways to help. To Write Love On Her Arms is about community and supporting each other when we are hurting. It about recognizing the pain we have in ourselves in someone else and lifting each other up because no one should have to do it alone. It's about reaching out to strangers in their greatest time of need because we really aren't all that strange. We all cry, we all battle demons, and we all experience great times of need.
So this is all I can come up with. I am friends with some of the most creative people in Colorado, and I love that. I love the amazing things my friends create and how they inspire not only me but everyone. So if you feel compelled to reach out to the other people that live in the YWAM house and the families of the kids that were shot, write a poem or a song, draw a picture, or just write a note saying you're praying for them or thinking of them or simply saying "we love you." Granted they are strangers and those three words are small, but they are the most powerful three words, and love is what they need the most right now.
So if you want to give something to me that I will drop off at the house in a few weeks you can mail it to me or find me on campus or just send me a message on here or to my email- sarah.vanwyke@email.cudenver
I know a lot of you may read this and think "oh great, she's found another cause to sink her teeth in" but i heard once that if you have a bad taste in your mouth you should spit it out and not keep swallowing in back.
So I'm spitting it out.
Two young people, our age, are dead. They were working to change the world, to make it better. Maybe I can relate with them, maybe I feel connected because it was a few blocks away from my house, and maybe I'm just mad that such violence can occur this day and age. And out of anger should come something progressive. So out of my anger I'm offering love. Please, think about what a short note of support and love could do for someone who is feeling completely alone and out of touch because their daughter or son or room mate or best friend has just died.
Spit it out, don't continue to swallow it back.