To be grateful.

This post might seem a bit dull for some of you. For the most part, this is more of a reminder to myself that life is precious and fragile and we need to be the best we can, while we still can. I'm taking a moment to humble myself, to appreciate all of the amazing people and opportunities and things I have available to me. Taking a moment to appreciate all of the things I have been blessed with. To appreciate that I am alive, that I am here, that I can wake up again each day and try to be better than I was yesterday. The horrific occurrence that happened in Connecticut is what prompted this post. I have been thinking a lot today about that, and a thought came to me which has been hard to get out of my head.

I am still on this earth. There are 20 sweet, innocent, beautiful spirits whose time on this earth ended all too soon. But it got me thinking, I am still here, so what am I going to do about it? I have been given an opportunity each day that I wake up to make a change, to make a difference, to be a force for good in the world. We all have. It's a crucial and important responsibility we have to be the best we can be, for ourselves and for others. To be the kind of person that makes a difference, that does what they can to make even a small positive change in this world that is so ridden with different kinds of evil.

We can't stop those acts of evil from happening, as much as we'd like to. We can't take away the pain from tragedies we, or people that we care about experience. But we can make an effort each day to be our best, and do our best for others. I want to be the kind of person who takes full advantage of the fact that today, right now, I have been given a precious gift: to be here. To be present. To make a difference. That means something to me, and I'm not going to waste another day forgetting that fact.