Why?

On this Saturday morning I opened my eyes with absolute and total gratitude to know that my my children were safe, secure, and happy...for this moment.  It's only in this moment that they exist to me because their future, just like all of our futures, is uncertain.  It can change in just one moment as evidenced yesterday in Connecticut.  My moment of gratitude turned to heartbreak for the other parents waking up today.  I wondered if they had even slept.  I wondered if they simply held each other through the night.  I imagined their bodies betraying them allowing them to sleep, to dream, to wake up, and to have to remember that they can't walk down the hall and give their darling baby a big hug and kiss on this Saturday morning.

The question of course, is why?  What is the message and what is the lesson?  As a society, have we truly gone so far that rational and commonly supported mass beliefs  like gun control, care for the mentally ill, and community support cannot be implemented.  Is this simply another wake up call from God that we are all here to help and serve each other for the benefit and greater good of all and that there will be karmic consequences if we do not learn to move as one?  Does it really need to be this dramatic to get all our attention?  Is it drama or simply the unwinding of all that we as spiritual beings have failed to do?  The hurricane of tamasic dark energy putting out the light of sattva or purity. 

I look to the past few years of our life together as Americans and see all the wake up calls that we are not waking up to.  The BP Oil Spill was a call for us to respect our planet and implement the necessary changes for green energy.  We did not respond.  The 2012 drought...another great call from mother nature that we cannot continue to pump water to unsustainable places.  The mass extinction of species of animal and trees, the melting of the polar caps, hurricanes, tornados, and floods....

Shootings at malls, schools, and political rallies.  Over 10,000 deaths from guns alone in America.  People dying en masse from heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.  1 in 4 children in America going hungry on a daily basis. 

Pan out to the world.  I don't even need to go there.  You know the the headline news.

Why?  I know why.  I don't care if this is a wake up call or not.  I don't care why.  I just know that action must be taken.  Do something profound today.  Pick a cause and dedicate yourself to it.  Slow your life down and make time for service.  Commit to service of others.  Go check on your neighbors.  Donate to charity.  Plant a tree.  Return some Christmas gifts and give the money to a cause that can save the planet, implement gun control, and ease the suffering of the mentally ill and those traumatized by it.  Get involved in the shift that is happening. Do something meaningful, valuable, and change the legacy of our time here on earth.