overcome.

sometimes, most times, i choose to shelter myself a bit from the media of bad things happening in our world. fashion? celeb gossip? sure, i'll follow that like a hawk. but tragedy? i shy away from it. why? maybe because i don't consider myself to be an emotionally strong person most of the time. i resist crying. i resist feeling what is natural to me. and to avoid that, i don't follow news stories. breaking news. bad things in our world. sad things that rip families apart. the fear that i simply can't handle what is going on if i were to dive into the details and pictures and stories and videos. and maybe because as a kid, every time i cried over something "trivial" my parents would tell me that i would never be able to handle anything "real" in life if i were to cry hysterically all the time. and so i suppress it. the best i can.

last night, i was not able to avoid it. my dad asked me to come watch a video. i couldn't tell my dad no. i had to go see what he wanted to show me. i weeped with tears streaming down my face. i faced the reality. i faced the media. and i faced what is true in our world right now. in our country.

and too often it's easier to turn the cheek like i find myself doing. but maybe it should be forced into our face like it was to me last night. maybe every American should view this video and comb the CNN website daily. and then maybe we would live differently. think differently. and embrace our freedom. every. single. day. every moment.

thank you, Grandad. and thank you to every single soldier fighting the fight. every day. without your family. and sometimes not coming home. you give your life, so that i can have mine.

Click. but only if you're willing to see what is real. to be overcome.