When Kindness Makes Headlines

If the law of attraction teaches us anything, it is that we get more of what we choose to make our focus. This certainly seems to be true with the "War on Terror." Why do terrorists do what they do? We seem to think that a major key to stopping this world-wide phenomenon of monthly, weekly (and approaching daily) mass killings, is to study the terrorists. They have become some of our most focused-on celebrities.

Surely, making them famous is an unwanted side-effect of our "War on Terror." If we are going to focus on them, it may be important to focus on what they all have in common: a desperate need for attention. As with the shooter in Munich, some see others gaining fame through killing, and it becomes their obsession too. Many humans in today's culture, suffer from lack-of-validation-and-appreciation-itis. Why do some rush to the dark side to fulfill this basic human desire?

Mass killings get attention. They have shock value. They stir up fear. They give the killer a sense of power, albeit false power. True power creates. Destruction is the antithesis of the true definition of power, yet we label it power. People want power. They want some kind of purpose to be alive. When feeling ignored, some will go to extraordinarily terrifying lengths just to be "seen."

These things capture the focus of the world and have brought instant fame to many a killer. Is there something important to be learned from this?

We're in shock. We can't look away. We wonder if our children will be next. We want to stop this. Stopping war with war has never been a permanent fix. If it was the answer, there would no longer be wars.

It doesn't seem possible for the media to take the spotlight off of the killers. We feel we must know everything we can about the killers in order to stop future would-be killers. That's not really working, is it? We're still trying to solve the problem by focusing on the problem.

What do we really want? We want the killing to stop. Is that what we want the most? Do we want to forever focus on "The killing has stopped. The killing has stopped?" I admit that would be a great headline compared to many today, but we would still be focusing on what we do not want. Life should be about much more than just stopping death.

Realists might say, "Well, what has love accomplished?" If love works so well, why has it not solved the problems of the world?

There is more love than hate in the world or our world would have ceased to exist long ago. Love creates. Hate destroys. We're here. There are many, many people working to provide a loving world for themselves and others. They deserve more attention. They deserve headlines. What could the world learn from just one day of nothing but news of the everyday heroes all around us?

Sadly, sometimes we learn only after there is a tragedy. Who knew, before his life was taken, that Philando Castile memorized which children (at the elementary school where he worked) had food allergies? The children that he provided safe lunches to every day knew this. Where are the reporters whose jobs focus on the healers and helpers who are on this earth to teach kindness? There is minimal coverage, unless they are victims of injustice.

We often see heroes emerge in tragedy, people helping others, and often giving their lives to save a loved one or a stranger. This is truth that needs telling. How wonderful it would be to see more reports about the kindness that goes on around us every day!

In their book "The Healing Power of Doing Good," authors Allan Luks and Peggy Payne discuss the personal health benefits of kindness. It doesn't seem like a huge leap to conclude that personal health benefits could expand to healing benefits for our hurting world. Kindness has that amazing ripple effect. People who receive kindness, says James Fowler, professor of social sciences at the University of California, San Diego, generally want to keep the flow of goodness going. We are influenced and affected greatly by the behavior we witness from others.

It is a resource that needs more positive tapping.

There must be change in order for change to be.

There must be a shift in focus in order for the focus to be other than what we now see.

A different perspective can radically alter how we see things as well as altering what there is to see. There are many studies to support that when we focus on something, it expands. We are more likely to be influenced to act on things we are thinking about rather than to act on things we are not thinking about. This is the way the human mind functions. We are what we think. What we feed our minds comes through in our actions. Not everyone will see violence and behave violently, but it has an effect on us all. We may see violence and become withdrawn, depressed and eventually catatonic.

When the focus is unbalanced, it is all the more urgent that we consciously choose what to think and act on. The killers are not speaking for us. They are not acting for us. They are not taking over the world.

The great peacemaker masters have left many sign posts for us to follow. Some were famous. Some were not. Some are grandparents, teachers or children in our neighborhoods and communities. Children often have great wisdom. We need to listen to them more. Some peacemaker masters are celebrities. Some are sanitation workers driving trucks and cleaning up after us so that our lives will be healthier and more comfortable! How much focus is given to the those whose daily acts of kindness help to keep our world together?

Politicians often promise change, some may even exclaim that they alone can fix things.

The real power belongs to us, each of us, with the power of our minds to focus on love, kindness and hope. Since what we focus on expands, let's expand kindness. Thank you for sending love and for changing the world through one powerful act of kindness at a time.