I have a very hard time reflecting on my little life when the world at large feels so very troubled.  The hate crimes in our world this week have rattled me to my bones. 

How on earth--in 75 years--did our country go from a nation that sacrificed its young men to save the world from a Jew-hating demagogue, to a nation that is accustomed to regular acts of anti-semitic terrorizing and partisan death threats on its own soil?  

Open hatred, that's how.

Reader, I'm going to keep this blog very short: I do believe in the First Amendment.  And the Second.  But if we can use the First to rally hostility and the Second to arm ourselves and carry out our anger, the system is broken.  

As a person, I'm distraught.  As a mom, I'm terrified.

In our little household, we are teaching are children: show love to everyone, especially the groups you feel are "the others," those groups that you feel are not like you. Because truly, what two people are the same?  What two churches are the same? What two Democrats or Republicans are the same?  Heck, what two family members are the same? I'm nothing like my husband, and he's nothing like me.  

(And thank heavens for that.)

Differences make the world go around.  On December 1st, I'm opening a restaurant (read: I passed all of my final building inspections this week, and I was granted my occupancy!).  And when I open my doors, I hope to serve as many of "the others" as possible.  Republicans, Democrats, Jews, Christians, Muslims, atheists, and every color of skin imaginable--as long as you don't openly hate on people who aren't like you, you've got a seat at my table.

Let's all be kind this week. I'm off to take a walk in the cornfield with my kids. See you next Sunday. -Em