A Paper of Hope for a Wounded America

A Paper of Hope for a Wounded America

I very much want each of us to overcome our grief. I want you to become the best possible YOU. I wished each of us could give those around us Our Screw Up Pill. And when we take them, we’ll know more of what not to do too. Give a hug. Get a hug. Talk. Just talk to each other.

Let’s begin by taking a moment to see each other. To truly look past the surface and acknowledge the journey each of us is on. Your words remind us that life, with its constant changes, requires us to be adaptable. Our goals shift as we do, adjusting to the new responsibilities of family, the demands of work, and the inevitable passage of time.

In America, life isn’t always rainbows and lollipops. For the vast majority of us, every single thing we obtain comes from hard work. Few will offer a leg up, and fewer still will drag us by our bootstraps. There is a deep, simple truth to that. We are all climbing our own mountain, and some of us are born onto a path with a much steeper incline.

The Wisdom of the Chicken Coop

You have seen a truth that is often hard to face: people can be as simple as chickens in a coop. We see a difference—a black feather where there should be none—and the entire group can turn and attack. This is a core flaw in our nature, a reflex to fear what is different. When we are unwilling to look at our own flaws, it is easier to point out the ones we perceive in others.

But you have also shown that to find true peace, we must find a field of work that allows us to make a living, to build a stable life for ourselves and our families. It is in this foundation that we find the strength to face the world and its difficulties.

The Message That Cannot Be Crucified

The assassination of Charlie Kirk is a tragedy that has shaken our nation. You ask if it is the beginning or the end. Your words on the death of President Kennedy, the cold-blooded murder and the wailing shock of a nation, bring home the immense weight of such a moment.

But just as you’ve said, being crucified stopped Jesus, but it did not stop His messaging. It did not stop His love. In this, there is a profound hope. A person can be stopped, their voice silenced by an act of violence, but a powerful message, a beautiful idea, cannot be killed. Its love, its hope, can echo across generations and inspire people far beyond the life of its messenger. That is a source of strength in a world of tragedy.

The Battle for the Mind

You are right; the greatest addiction of our time may be screen time and viral posts. They offer a constant stream of information and emotion that can overwhelm us. They fill our minds with things we cannot always deal with. But you have also given us a powerful key to freedom: No one controls what you think except you.

This is the ultimate form of resilience. We must learn to place things in our minds that we can truly handle and leave the rest aside. We can prepare ourselves for the reality that death comes for all of us, at any moment. And just as you survived Polio and the haunting memory of kids in iron lungs, you have taught us that we can survive. We can stare into the face of our fears and our pain, and our minds can find a way to process it and move forward.

Hope is not found in an easy life. Hope is found in the knowledge that even when life beats us down, when the world seems cold and cruel, and when tragedy strikes, we have the power to choose what we expose outwards. We can choose to be what we expose outwards. We can choose to be the people who find a way to make a living, to look past the black feathers, and to carry forward a message of love and resilience that a world of violence can never kill.

A Paper of Hope for a Wounded World

Let’s take a moment to see each other. To truly look past the surface and acknowledge the journey each of us is on. Your words remind us that life, with its constant changes, requires us to be adaptable. Our goals shift as we do, adjusting to the new responsibilities of family, the demands of work, and the inevitable passage of time.

The Wisdom of the Chicken Coop

The Message That Cannot Be Crucified

The Battle for the Mind

A Paper of Hope

Let’s take a moment to see each other. To really look at our friends and classmates and understand that everyone is on their own special journey. Life changes all the time, and our goals change with us. When we have a family, our lives become about our loved ones, and that’s okay.

Life is not always easy, like a field of rainbows and lollipops. Most people have to work hard for everything they get. You might feel like you’re climbing a big, steep mountain, and that’s okay. Everyone has a mountain to climb, and some people have mountains that are much, much bigger.

The Wisdom of the Chicken Coop

Sometimes people can be like chickens in a chicken coop. They see someone who is a little different—maybe a single black feather on a white chicken—and the whole group starts to pick on them. This is a flaw that people have. It’s easier to see differences in others than it is to see our own.

But your words teach us something important: to be happy, we must find a job that we love so we can take care of ourselves and our families. It is in this hard work that we find the strength to face the world and its difficulties.

A Message That Cannot Be Killed

When a person with a beautiful message is taken away from us, it feels like the end. You saw this when President Kennedy was killed. Everyone was sad, and people cried all the way home from school. It was a big, scary moment.

But just like Jesus was hurt, his message of love did not die. A person can be stopped, but a beautiful idea cannot be killed. Hope and love can echo forever, helping and inspiring people far beyond the life of the messenger. That is a source of strength in a world of sadness.

The Battle for Your Mind

You are right; today’s biggest addiction is spending too much time on our phones, especially on viral posts. They fill our minds with so many feelings and thoughts that can make us feel overwhelmed. But you have also given us the most powerful key to freedom: No one controls what you think except you.

This is the ultimate form of strength. We must learn to put things in our minds that we can handle and leave the rest behind. You survived Polio and those scary thoughts of kids in iron lungs. You learned that you can survive hard things. We can stare at our fears and our pain, and our minds will find a way to get through it.

Hope is not found in an easy life. Hope is found in knowing that even when life is hard, we have the power to choose what we give to the world. We can choose to be the people who work hard, who don’t pick on others for their differences, and who carry a message of love and strength that a world of violence can never kill.

AND

You’ve touched on a fundamental truth of human character. How we choose to move forward isn’t just a decision; it’s a declaration of who we are. Every step, every action, every reaction in the face of challenge is a brushstroke on the canvas of our character.

The Power of Our Footsteps

Life is full of moments that test us, from small daily frustrations to the great tragedies that shake the world. It’s easy to react with anger, fear, or despair. But it’s in these moments that we show our true colors. The easy path is often to blame others, to give in to frustration, or to retreat. The harder, more meaningful path is to choose a different response.

Think about two people who face the same difficult situation. One chooses to use their pain to fuel hatred and division, lashing out at others. The other uses that same pain to find empathy, reaching out to help those who are also suffering. Their starting point was the same, but their chosen paths lead to two completely different destinations, not just for them, but for everyone around them.

The path we take tells our story. It shows whether we are driven by fear or by hope, by vengeance or by compassion. Our actions are not just what we do; they are who we are. They define our legacy and our impact on the world.

Building a Legacy of Light

To choose to move forward with grace and kindness, especially when it’s difficult, is one of the most powerful things a person can do. It’s a statement that says, “I will not let my circumstances define me. I will not let the bad in the world change the good in me.”

The most inspiring people throughout history are those who, when faced with darkness, chose to be a source of light. Their actions speak louder than any words. They are the ones who show us that even in the face of great tragedy, we can choose to be builders of hope, instead of destroyers.

So, how will you choose to move forward? The choice is always yours, and it’s one you make with every step.