What We Need To Teach Our Future Generations About Tragedy And Living With Love

In the midst of tragedy, I want you to realize you have a purpose. A purpose to love, to nurture, to listen. I want your voice to be heard amongst crowds and long bouts of silent. I want you to speak up on those truths you hold self-evident; the ones filled with honor, with pride, and with self-assurance that I hoped to have instilled in you. I hope, in times of terror, you choose to carry on in life, to never succumb to fear, because fear is what will paralyze you; paralyze the world, if we let it.

You won’t be the generation that unites with love, but I hope you’re part of the generation that brings us one step closer.

I hope that with love, your world can become a beacon of hope, a sanctuary for those whose lives are shrouded in fear. I hope your generation spreads more honesty about things that need to change. I hope you’re the generation that chooses love, as opposed to hatred. I hope you inspire others, instead of filling them with despair. I hope you, your friends, your community, unites as one as a kindred spirit. I want for you, to live in a world not so consumed with hate, but one overflowing with love.

But that is a long way to come. Life evolves over time, and people – people at the core of it all, are good. I want you to be open to people of different cultures, different languages, whose backstories hardly mirror your own. I want you to be open to them – to the idea that variety is the spice of life, and that the world doesn’t work without all the ingredients. I hope for your sake, you never fear walking down the halls of your high school. I hope you have the opportunity to skip by your locker, to cheer at pep-rallies, and to live each moment just as it is in the very moment. I hope, for your sake, you wake up to find inspiring stories scroll across your screen.

I hope, for your sake, that your eyes hardly skim across stories that will make you lose faith in the world you were brought up in. For your sake, I hope you never live a life of constant uncertainty, because life, is so much more than that.

In times when those around you are weak, I hope you will have the courage to be their strength. In times when those around you need to speak, I hope you will be compassionate enough just to listen. In times when those you never met are begging for your support, I hope you will be there to lend a helping hand. In times of fear – of any kind – I hope that you will persevere, to continue smiling, to continue helping, to continuing loving because I would like to see you – your generation – be the change we need to see in this world.