One great challenge today is how to protect the lives of innocents in peaceful ways.
I don't believe we need war or aggression to make positive change, and I do believe we can use money and people power to positively impact positive change.
Let's think about the Aaron Hernandez case. Here's a case of an individual who appeared to have a lot of strengths, but also faced a lot of challenges. What could have happened during his young life to build more on the strengths so the grave challenges he later faced didn't occur? What could his family, teachers, neighbors, coaches, and others have done to direct him in a better direction? I'm sure everyone of those people have some ideas about this, and perhaps they'll use those ideas to better life for others. There's a lot of young Aaron Hernandez's out there, and perhaps the promise of his demise can be that people will take what they learned and make life better for those young men and women.
Every time a terrorist event occurs, I wonder too--what could we do to encourage those terrorists to use their time and energy for good rather than for destruction? What encourages them to cause such pain and suffering?
How can we change destruction-for-change to positive development-for-change? How can we use what we know already and the good acts that occur throughout the world to promote this?
When we turn a blind eye to any suffering, we only create more. Yet, none of us have the answers in all challenging arenas that we are aware of. I'm aware of arenas of challenge that I've tried to affect to no success, and I hope that others that are aware of those arenas will be able to do a better job there than I can. Then there are arenas that I do have some say over--areas where I can have a positive affect, and it's there that I need to put my energy and knowledge.
It's not a perfect world, but it remains a world with tremendous potential for good. Watching "Hidden Figures" last night provided me with a great example of working for betterment and good--there's so much to learn from that film.
It's important to read up on the world around us and to think about how we might positively affect and/or change what's happening to better promote "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" for all people young and old. I believe we can do a better job as a people, and the key is working together toward fulfilling the tremendous promise and potential that exists.
