A Moment For Reflection

For two days I've been trying to find the words I want to share in this post. I'm rarely at a loss for expressing myself, but the events in the world since mid-August have, on a daily basis left me speechless. I know life goes on, but if we were all at a convention and sitting in a kick-off keynote address, the speaker would start with a few minutes of silence, whether in prayer or just poignant thought, out of respect for the suffering and pain we've all witnessed.

For me, it started with "Harvey" and worrying about friends in Texas. There were more senseless terror attacks, this time in Spain. Two weeks later "Irma" reared her ugly head literally on our doorstep. I watched the news as lives and homes were lost in the Caribbean, then Key West then Florida and continuing north. "Maria," followed much of the same path as "Irma" and Puerto Rico was crushed. Finally, the earthquake in Mexico reminded me that Mother Nature wasn't finished.

But I wasn't done being speechless. The last few nights, like most of you, I watched the latest update on the mass shooting in Las Vegas. It's a city nearly all of us in the industry have spent enough time in to probably declare ourselves residents. But the pain we're all feeling isn't about Vegas; it's about the human spirit. A senseless mass shooting at a concert that could have been anywhere.

Today, regardless of what any of us do for a living, it's business as usual, except...

There's a unique sadness I feel. I find myself wondering what I would have done had Sheila and I been at that concert. I think about how we would have felt to come back to our home after "Irma" and find everything gone. I find myself trying to imagine the panic if the earth around our home simply opened up and swallowed us whole!

I'll post today like I do every day with some great content thanks to the SCU partners. I'll share links to social media to various companies and products I believe in, but there's a huge difference from other days. I can't start off today without reminding you how lucky we all are. While I'll be accused of an inappropriate topic for a business and marketing blog, a big piece of my heart belongs to so many people who in just six weeks have seen their lives and dreams changed, some forever.

Tragedies happen all over the world, and each day somewhere there's somebody in pain, but I don't remember a time in my life when we've witnessed so many at once and felt so helpless. While the world is in turmoil, maybe it's time we each took a deep breath and a moment of reflection. Regardless of your religious affiliation, it's time to say a prayer and thank God for everything we have and to help so many people in so much pain.