Author Michael Connelly’s fictional character Detective Harry Bosch often says of his cases: “Everybody matters or nobody matters”.

Humanity and its collective consciousness grieves at the unthinkable loss of innocent lives this weekend.

As we try to wrap our finite minds around the complexities of mental illness, constitutional rights, personal safety, and global citizenship, we all default to what we know – how we were raised, our personal politics, our faith paradigm, what is expedient for me as an individual.
We passionately defend our position with statistics, “yeah but” comparisons, and well-worn cliches.
Our heated rhetoric changes no minds, but rather entrenches us in our divided dogma.

My daughter no longer goes into the ocean due to her fear of sharks. An irrational fear many would say. Statistically she is more likely to die from a fireworks explosion or lightening strike than from shark bite. However, when you hear of shark attacks on local NC beaches, it makes the threat very real.

I enjoy road running for exercise. When I come upon a fellow jogger coming my direction I always make eye contact, give a quick wave, and a friendly smile as we pass. If the fellow runner is a male, occasionally they will acknowledge me, if female, there is no acknowledgement of any kind. Though this makes me sad, I realize that this is the cultural norm we have necessitated. A woman who politely smiles at a man can quickly put herself at risk for unwanted advances, an attack or even worse. Sure, the chances of sexual assault on a well trafficked public trail may be lower than in a dark alley but why would she ever take the chance by showing vulnerability to me?

This is a glimpse into our new normal.
Women have to be on constant guard for their basic dignity and safety, and my random trip to Walmart just got ridiculously dicey.

Neither the best intentions of our “thoughts and prayers” or our well rehearsed political diatribes are of any consequence.

Maya Angelou said: “Do the best you can until you know better, Then when you know better, do better.”
It’s safe (or maybe not-so-safe) to say that we do indeed know better…

It would be presumptuous of me to provide personal reflections of righteous indignation or some pseudo-evolved piety to try and change hearts and minds – but my spirit is saying that it’s time for me to do better…
In good conscience I can no longer say that I am ”pro-life” merely because I believe that the sanctity of life begins at conception.
I must believe in the sanctity of care for the mentally ill, the sanctity of human decency at our borders, the sanctity of unconditional love for all faiths, genders, age groups, nationalities, creeds, and sexual orientation.

Either everybody matters or nobody matters..

To recognize one’s own insanity is, of course, the arising of sanity, the beginning of healing and transcendence. ~Eckhart Tolle

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. ~God >Paul