I love this picture of these two. Elanor being goofy and Alice watching and trying to figure Elanor out.
Some thoughts:
I am generally an optimistic person that believes there is much good in this world--and I still do. But I was having a real Theoden moment today. In the Two Towers film, Rohan seems to be on the point of destruction and the battle lost and the king, Theoden, says "What can men do against such reckless hate?" He said it in a moment of despair. I felt a bit like that after hearing and pondering much on the massacre in Florida. Also, added to that is all this built up sadness over the plight of so many refugees and my brother (who is on a mission in Sweden) hearing first hand so many horrible stories and knowing how burdened he feels because of it all and add that to an absolutely horrible and callous person running for president (ie Trump), and the fact that there are so many Americans who support him, and that gets me back to thinking about all these hurts and wrongs, and mean people and prejudice and racism and sexism and men getting away with rape and murder and what in the world is wrong with people?
But.
Feeling pain and anguish and love is human and makes us human, to not feel means you must not be human, as Dumbledore explains to Harry (Book 5). Feeling these things is good, even if they break your heart. Harry did not beat Voldemort with violence or fancy wand waving. He sacrificed himself for the love of others (+plus some smarts and the Elder wand). This is the only way we can win too. Love. Sacrifice. Empathy. Service. I do not like the title "The War on Terrorism". We cannot fight evil with violence. It will not work. We can all be better. I can be better. We can love more. And I know in so many ways it does not seem as simple as that and there are so many complex and difficult things going on, but if everyone acted a bit more like the Good Samaritan all problems would cease.
I don't want to go on and on, but if you need to feel like there is good in this world or would like to feel some hope you should check out these videos:
I wrote a letter to my brother talking more about Harry Potter and love and if you would like to read it go here: https://scottboys.wordpress.com/2016/06/07/help-from-harry/
While there, you should also check out some of his letters about his experiences in Sweden.
To close, we cannot let fear get the better of us and stop us from helping those who need it. We are all human in this world and our differences should not stop us from rescuing those in need. All that matters is that we are all related and we should all love one another.
Also, sending so much love and many prayers to those in Florida affected by the horrendous massacre.
