I am asking you to make a sacrifice.

Sunday saw a massacre in the United States, the worst mass shooting in our history. It was the 133rd shooting of the year, taking place on the 164th day.

When I logged into the forum, I saw what I always see in the wake of tragedy: arguement.

We are all grieving. And we are all angry. I will not ask you to feel differently. I am angry. I have wept. I will not ask you to not feel this. That said, I am asking for something.

Today, everyone is raw. That rawness polarizes the issues at hand and makes everyone certain of their rightness. We hate the pain these tragedy wedge into us, and we spit it like poison on each other. We each seek people to blame and we don't want to carry that blame. And, in the mire and din of all that, it is so hard to hear. I cannot hear you over my own yelling. I cannot hear you over my grief.

I know you each have feelings and beliefs about what happened, why, and what should be next. I ask you to contact your legislature and makea statement, regardless of your stance. Something must be said.

But the laws will not be changed here.

I am a Knight and I am Ordained. My responsibilities are greated than my own pain, and I have pledged to serve the Temple. While we are all bruised and bleeding, while we are all too raw to hear, go out and heal.

Yes, there is a discussion to be had. Yes, I do believe in the rightness of my convictions, and I will make my voice heard in the appropriate context.

But today, I ask you to set the fight aside. Today, be the clergy I believe you to be. Do not engage in these petty fights. They are only the paroxysms of grief. Speak to the pain. Speak to the fear. Listen.

It is a sacrifice, I know. We can reach out to each other as well, but be bigger than your own grief, at least while in these halls.

Thank you. Thank you for your service.

I know i am not clergy , but i love you all anyway, wise words Cabur x

Beating heart

Eloquent as always, Cabur. Thank you for this.

A hundred million thank yous!!!

I've been struggling with how to respond to this. My Facebook friends list is full of members of the LGBT community and SJWs who are enraged and in pain. I haven't been sure if I should join my friends in their grief and anger in solidarity, or to say nothing at all.

I feel like this is a reasonable and compassionate option

Thank you for this. I hope we can all agree not to argue pettily about the who, the what, and the why of what happened, or the bashing of others in blame, but rather discuss what we can do to prevent it happening again, and/or (especially) what we can do to help those that are in need right now.

Personally, I will speak peace to those that are discussing it, pulling the focus away from their anger or intolerance back to those that are suffering from what happened. And as a nursery school teacher, I will teach acceptance of those around us and teach ways to act kindly when faced with upset or difference.

Emotion, yet peace. Thank you for the reminder, Cabur.

Time to Jedi-up and be the instruments of peace we are meant to be. We must let our light shine so that others may find their way through darkness. I'm reminded of our Teachings, especially these few.

2. Jedi maintain a clear mind; which can be achieved through meditation and contemplation. Our minds can become unduly troubled and concerned with the happenings of the world. We must work on overcoming our individual issues through training and diligence.

12. Jedi believe that love and compassion are central to their lives. We must love and care for each other as we must love and care for ourselves; by doing this we envelop all life in the positivity of our actions and thoughts. We are providers and beacons of hope.

14. Jedi are guardians of peace. We believe in helping all those that are in need, in whatever form, to the best of our ability. We recognise that sometimes providing help requires courage in the face of adversity but understand that conflict is resolved through peace, understanding and harmony.

Thank you Cabur.

Cabur, you don't know how timely these words are for me, this week.

Thank you.

Everyday you inspire me Master Cabur, but today you inspire me more!

Very well said. A lot more listening and a lot less arguing seems like it would go a long way in most situations.

Dozens have died by violence in my country since last I began this thread. Mr Sterling and Mr. Castillo were killed just this week. Now, in Dallas, a response. Police officers and civilians shot from a distance during a peaceful demonstration.

Again - I send a message to the Clergy of this Temple.

You know what I am about to ask you. I have had to ask it too many times because the necessity arises with horrifying frequency.

Be the voice for peace today. I feel a terrible grief and a terrible rage, but I will speak for peace, for taking a moment to feel what needs to be felt and to understand as best as one can.

Serve the Temple in empathy and mercy today. Do not attack the rageful, but reach out to them. Support them. And console the grieving. It is a sacrifice, I know. Your feelings are raw as well. When you are in need, seek out each other. Or me. I will listen to anyone who requires it.

Thank you, my friends.

My heart is just so broken right now. Thank you Cabur.

Sometimes a thank you button is not enough. Sometimes I use it as my "hug" button.

J_Roz wrote: My heart is just so broken right now.

I understand. I am sick in my heart, today. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

And thank you, J Roz.

A sniper. It was a damned sniper. And those lives are gone, those innocent lives are gone. How is it that you suppress your anger ?! How is it that you do not scream in a fit of rage whenever you see the news. I'm broken. The world is broken. This is not civilisation. This is chaos. We live in a world of chaos.

Because Silas, I remember that we also live in a world of harmony and beauty. It's not easy, the media makes it even harder, but it's the truth. Remember that the news gives us but a snapshot of all that happens in the world and for some reason they like to focus on the bad. They focus on the chaos and, most of all, they seem to focus on the divisions. But that is not all that there is in the world.

When I look at the stage on a more global level (which means, looking at the frequency that various other countries experience tragedies like this), I'm not surprised or shocked. We could be in a similar state as the middle-east is, which is many times more severe on a daily basis than things are in the states on a yearly basis.
This is not to say I don't feel sad for the victims and their families (and pity for the criminals), but simply, that it doesn't shake me up so much hearing about it like it would if I were so convinced (indoctrinated by the western world country) that we ought to be the only country to not experience this, as if we are. The world keeps on turning turning turning, people will keep dying dying dying, and in the same motion, the love we have always had and will continue to have, will continue growing, growing growing, where it will. Just turn the page, and keeping doing what you do.

Bad things happen. We shouldn't let them drag us down. Focus on goodness and we will always have goodness.

I think one of the things that helps with the heartache (for me, at least) is letting this stuff remind me of how far mankind has actually come (bear with me!). As imperfect as our world obviously still is, since the dawn of recorded history our world has never seen this overall level of peace, prosperity, lack of violence, and freedom from oppression. There absolutely are heart-wrenching atrocities around us, like those of the past few days, but the reason we can feel so surrounded by horrors is because, as a society, we actually recognize them as being horrible. Less than a lifetime ago violence against black people (perpetrated by civilians and cops alike) was certainly much, much more frequent, but much of society (or at the very least the media) didn't exactly care all that much... and the overall trend for violence in general (including against police) has similarly decreased in the grand scheme of things. Back then it just wasn't quite as big a news story, because that was just the status quo. (And the same applies in other aspects -- the percentage of people living in absolute poverty worldwide, for example, has also decreased enormously).

And please don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not saying that we shouldn't have this reaction in the present day, or that we're not allowed to feel devastated by these things just because others have had it worse in the past/elsewhere in the world. To the contrary, we absolutely can and should grieve over tragedies like this. If anything, I'm saying that the fact that we are so devastated by events like these is a good thing -- it shows how unacceptable such actions have become in the eyes of society, and perhaps even how much less commonplace they are if it can stop the whole world in its tracks when it happens.

It hurts so much because we're not desensitized to it. It looks so abhorrent because we're learning. And I think there's some comfort to be found in being mindful of that.

"Where there is despair, hope."

Just my two cents anyway

This is kaliyug. And has been for a while now. Violence creates more violence, hatred creates more hatred. The dark side.