Stained glass windows spattered with blood and love

I was horrified when I read this article about a shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, TN. 

When reading most news articles about savage violence, I often leave the article depressed about 'how our world's going to pot' and how there are so few good people left and yadah yadah yadah.

But as I read this article by the Associated Press, I couldn't help but observe the profound love that could not be hidden, even by unthinkable cruelty. A deacon actually stood in front of bullets and died so other people didn't have to die. A husband/father made sure his family was safe and then threw himself back into the possibility of harm so he could pin down the gunman. The gunman was not even injured--the congregation simply pinned him down, removed the gun, and waited for help to arrive.

But what we often fail to remember with acts of violence, or even ignorance or anger, is that these actions bear witness to a void of love. People who exhibit these behaviors often have lived loveless lives for years, and so they turn to inflict evil upon the very thing they need and crave the most.

This is why we must never give up on loving--why love should always be our greatest guide. Life devoid of love is pain, worthlessness, hollow, alone. Whatever our religion, thought, lifestyle, and creed, let us strive to be people who make every effort to keep acts like this from happening, who apply love in early and late stages of need to a world that is so clearly desperate for any kind of loving gesture and touch.