[Editor’s Note: Laura originally wrote this piece in June 2017, due to our hiatus we are publishing it now. Please note how resonant the message remains.]

By Laura

I am exhausted. Not just Monday morning blues, but something deeper. I am tired of the negativity that has been seeping into my pores.

I am running out of ways to buck up with my family, with my friends, or to complete strangers.

It is if has if the flags that surround me have been at half-mast for too long without explanation.  I am in mourning of sorts, but I haven’t been touched directly by the death which has affected the world recently.

I suppose what is so disheartening is the lack of common decency. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no Pollyanna, I know that evil exists in the world, but at what point did we forget there is human life behind the madness?  

When did it become acceptable to lash out at people in shock after trauma before first asking if they were okay?

When did it become acceptable to lift yourself up by stomping on someone who is already down?

This is not the behavior of a friend, or a stranger, or a leader which I find acceptable.

Henry Ford is quoted as saying “Don’t find fault, find a remedy”.  It is so easy to find fault in anything from the color of my nail polish to the temperature of the sun.  Finding the fault is the simple part.  The remedy is the hard part.

I will not duck and run.  I will not hide behind a tweet.  I am going to help find the remedy.  My flags will not fly at half-mast forever.