I woke up this morning to my daughter telling me about the Las Vegas shooting.  Another shooting. Massive casualties. And while the “thoughts and prayers” are going out in earnest, the finger-pointing has started right alongside them. Both are equally impotent in the face of this kind of depravity. No one can make sense of why someone would take lives and forever change so many more. So while you’re thinking, praying, or finger-pointing, may I offer an additional course of action?

Take some steps in the direction of kindness. Kiss your husband. Talk to your neighbors. Listen to your children. Smile at strangers. Volunteer with disenfranchised youth. Pay for the person behind you in the coffee line. DO something kind for someone with no expectation of reward or acknowledgment.

Stop bickering with people about shit that you disagree on. Shut up and LISTEN. Try to understand before you call them names and shut them down. Convey your beliefs with your actions as well as internet memes. Remember that we all want to be seen, heard, acknowledged, and loved. Engage with your fellow human beings respectfully.

Look for the good in one another. See someone else’s point every now and then. Pry the closed up parts of your heart open and let a little light and fresh air in there. You may think it’s nothing, but bit by bit, it puts positive energy out there. Even if it doesn’t change the world at large, it’ll change your little corner of it, and that’s a start.

Let’s be decent to each other. Let’s be better to each other. Let’s be HUMANE to each other. And let’s try to remember we’re in this together.