Years ago my husband said, “there are no bad things, just misguided perceptions.” Immediately I said “drunk driver deaths, kids with cancer, tsunamis, the holocaust.” He responded: the creation of MADD and holiday weekend checkpoints, parents and siblings empowered by their loss who go on to fight for others and educate, the rebuilding of cities and societies, a new world consciousness for acceptance of all peoples.

When we stop adjudicating every moment as potentially bad we open ourselves to the idea of a larger picture that maybe we can’t see (or see yet). We become aware of the fragility of life. This understanding, that we are Here and we have Now, is deeply empowering and freeing.