Does your heart hang as heavily as mine today? First the Clackamas, Oregon shooting in the mall shook me because of the madness of it and because the area is home to a new ROC – the Clackamas River Community Co-op. And, not to take anything from that tragedy but the Newtown, Connecticut shootings has really shaken me hard.
The interview with the school nurse and in-depth story about the principal was what brought me from shock to tears. I hugged my kids many times out of the blue this weekend – it’s hard to not put oneself in any one of those parents’ shoes.
The randomness of it and the relative infrequency helps me put it in a box but there’s really no explaining it. It’s tragic in every way, shape and form.
Work was a return to normalcy this morning. Hearing from a homeowner in Florida who learned his community owner was being foreclosed on in February and who was in his own state of shock helped pull me back. It pulled me back to how I make a difference in the world – the work I do to support responsible adults taking positive leadership in communities. The work of helping homeowners become community owners as a way to control what happens over the long-haul in your communities.
You’ve heard me say this before: I think good strong communities are the result of responsible adults taking leadership and setting a positive example for all in the community. In a culture led by responsible, mutually-supportive people, there is more good than bad every time. And, that, more than anything is what we need to remind ourselves of in times like these. There’s more good than bad and we can all make a difference in our communities for the better.