The Need for Perspective: Sandy Hook

News travels fast, especially if its heart-wrenching disaster news. So naturally, even in Nepal, all I’ve been hearing about is the unfortunate series of events in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. First things first, I want to send my sincerest of condolences to everyone involved and/or affected by the shootings.

The tragedy has been a lot to process for everyone, and it seems like just yesterday I was reading about Columbine in the news. You wonder how something could have gotten so out of hand; some of us are even more troubled because we didn’t think something like that could happen in our community, our neighbourhood, our society. The reality is that these things can happen anywhere, that they are happening elsewhere.

Let’s not forget the other children of the world, the other tragedies that kill millions annually. There are child soldiers in many developing countries, others face sex trafficking, some are condemned to a life of poverty and malnutrition, and so on. There are children dying every day because of yet another injustice to which we turn a blind eye.

I’m not trying to at all take away from what happened – it’s horrible and it’s sad, and it deserves our attention. It highlights the need for change in many aspects of our society. What I’m suggesting is that we put it into perspective. There are a lot of similar horrible, sad things occurring in many other parts of the world, and they deserve our attention as well. They deserve our prayers, our consideration, our hard work or, at minimum, your Facebook posts. These various other issues need to be addressed and awareness needs to be raised if anything is every going to change.

So what I’m asking of you today is simple; feel remorse for these victims and their families, pray for them – do all that you are already doing, and then one step more. Channel your sadness and shock into something positive – advocacy. Advocate for all the children around the world, all the girls and boys that deserve to live their lives to the fullest. Do your research; learn about the other hardships plaguing our world today. If along the way, you find a cause that inspires you, share what you’ve learned, and raise awareness. If not, that’s ok. But at least educate yourself so that something positive can come of this recent tragedy.