Death is not just a number, a cause

I fell asleep smiling and I awoke crying. The thought of my own death doesn't frighten me nearly as much as the thought of yours.

Last night I dreamed my sister died. What scared me most were my initial thoughts in the dream, "oh its just another dead person, wonder how they died and at least it has nothing to do with me." But somehow, it finally entered into my conscious that this way my sister and not another person I've read about on the news. I realized that I had been reading about death and it didn't bother me as much as it once had.

In the dream I began to cry, to sob. I felt that life wouldn't, couldn't continue on. I thought of how I would never hear her speak, laugh, talk. She'd never finish being a teenager, never get her first kiss, never go to college, never start a career, never start a family.

The dream must have stemmed from all the things I've been reading in the news--the latest being the Arizona shooting. I don't think it reached my true conscience while I read these news stories. I simply read the words and looked for the effects it would have politically and the reasons for Jared Loughner's actions.

But what did I forget to do and think while I read this?

I forgot to truly feel, to truly be human. Christina Taylor Green, a nine-year old little girl lost her life this week while holding her neighbors hand and watching Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford give a speech and then get shot in the head. before Jared Loughner released an array of bullets on the audience that killed this innocent little girl and 5 others.

I now begin to think of all the people this has hurt, not just physically but emotionally. Not only the immediate family and friends effected but thousands, millions. People have stopped to give a moment of silence, have rallied together to pay their respects to people they've never met. Why?

Because while the world is going to pot, there are still people out there who truly care and love the many, many sons and daughters of God in this world, even if they don't know them at this present time.

When we hear about deaths on the news its ok to listen to the numbers, listen to the causes but also we need to acknowledge the feelings of sadness and love we feel for the people who have died and for the people who are truly mourning those deaths.

If we've come to a point where we can hear about brutal murders, mass killings, the death of soldiers and civilians in other countries and feel nothing then we need to take a look at our lives and remember what's important-- EVERY life.