Should old acquaintances be forgot and never brought to mind?

Reflection can be filled with emotion. While reflecting on 2012, I know, I feel so full of sadness. I have tried to focus on thrillingly happy moments, such as the gold medal moments of the Olympics. Even the heart warming milestones of my grandchildren have not been able to keep my eyes from filling with tears. The terrible events in Newtown Ct. seem to trump any joy.
I guess I have spent the last couple of weeks trying to understand how this could have happened. As society, have we put aside mental illness, have we been lax on gun control, was this bad parenting, could this be a greater plan by God?

I am beginning to believe there are things we cannot understand, that there are no answers. Human thinking can just have no answer that holds any rationality. Our brains are not wired to make sense of an atrocity of this magnitude.

What I have been made aware of is that most people are good loving people, wonderful parents, caring neighbors and compassionate members of society. When evil raises its ugly head, they fight back. Sometimes with just a hug, sometimes by showing social outrage against what they believe to be the cause of such injustice. So when a Facebook friend goes off on a rant about what thy believe to be the cause of the Newtown massacre, I realize it because they are being justified by showing social outrage, because they are that compassionate member of society. We all feel the need to do "something". So instead of getting angry at people for thier opinion, we must remember that it is their way of being full of sadness, just as you.
People should not ever live in fear of evil we must always have hope and dreams of our future, wether we are 5 or 105. We have got to be more respectful of each other. Respectful of all the things that make us unique, each others faith, race and opinions. These are the things that make us who we are. Regardless of these things, we must be willing to lend a hand, an ear and your heart.
My suggestion, for what it's worth, is that we reflect on ourselves and not so much on the events. What can we do to improve the compassion we demonstrate. We need to reflect on any judgement we may have made of others. We need to teach these things to our children. They will grow up to shape a more compassionate society. This would be the greatest gift we could ever give out children, the best way to protect them from a future world of evil.

So as we prepare for 2013, remember....respect! Lets make next years reflection, one that makes us proud of our actions. Try paying forward toward a brighter future for all of us. Ann Curry suggested that we do 26 acts of kindness for the memory of those we lost, I think that's a great start. What are you going to do?