A Quick Reminder for Pokemon Go Players

It seems to me like Pokemon Go has become the smash hit of 2016! Half my Twitter feed has been nothing but people commenting on the game. "Oh, I found a Geodude on the plane!" "I found a Magikarp in my backyard!" And honestly, this is good! I'm glad people are out there having fun! This year has been especially hard, and it seems like every other week we're getting nothing but bad news. If it's not a beloved celebrity dying, it's a mass shooting, or a terrorist attack, or a murder. Maybe that's why we distract ourselves with video games.

But remember, people: real life is still going on out there. As you play Pokemon Go, the world still spins around, and life still goes on. The world doesn't stop for you to catch that Vulpix in the church yard, or that Mewtwo in Vatican City, or that Pidgey in your toilet. Life still goes on.

Here's a sobering fact: children are still dying in Syria, Daesh is still killing people, there are still thousands of killings a day all around the world, and you're out there playing Pokemon Go. And why not play? Why not cover our ears and eyes to that which we can do nothing about? We each struggle in our lives; why add the miseries of others to our own?

I am reminded of something I once heard. When God confronted Cain over Abel's death, Cain asked "Am I my brother's keeper?" A wise man once told me that the rest of the Bible answers that question: yes, you are. We all are our brother's keepers. In all of us lays a responsibility to make the world just a bit better than how we found it.

And how can we make the world a bit better? Simply put, we can't; not in a grand scale, anyway. We can't end the war in Syria and the Levant just like that, we can't end world hunger from one night to the next, and racism in the US, Europe, and all around the world will NOT be going away any time soon. But what we CAN do is practice kindness.

A kind word here, a helping hand there, it can make the difference in someone else's day. In a world where cruelty is law, kindness is rebellion. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.