Here's To A New Week

There's no doubt that some weeks really test you- last week was one of them. I thrive on news weeks where you are too busy to even have chit chat but last week we were distracted by not only hope but despair. 

A deranged man went on a rampage in Herkimer county. He set fire to his house, went to a barber shop and shot four people- killing 2. Then he went to a car wash and killed 2 more before barricading himself in an abandoned building. After a more than 15 hour stand off authorities went in to get him. He shot and killed a K-9 before authorities killed him. 

That would have been enough news to process but shortly after that mess began- we saw the white smoke. Wait- is it white? It looks kinda gray. It is white! We have a new pope... and yet when they announced his name the microphone kinda cut out- wait--- what's his name? Say it again. It was a collective- who is it? It all eventually worked its self out and we learned he would be named Pope Francis. 

The next day a very tragic story came out of Central New York. A woman and child were kidnapped and attacked coming out of a mall. The child was raped. The woman stabbed multiple times. The child escaped and ran for help but it was too late- the suspect killed the woman. Authorities caught him. Turns out the suspect had been facing charges in a federal child pornography case.

How do you process all this? I'm sure everyone does differently- for me I tend to not talk about it. I go internal- and think about it. Then I try to find some good in everything. It's all I can do- when I have to process and retain challenging details because it's important to provide the accurate details to you. 

I'm holding on to the hope that a new pope is providing for people around the world. While there is hope- there is also patience. One pastor told me he will hold out on having positive feelings about our new pope as he falls in line with the previous pope Benedict with very conservative views and may not provide the real change most Catholics are hoping for. I am also holding out hope for the child who was brutally attacked in Central New York. She will have a life time of challenges but I can only hope and pray she will rise above it and live a life of inspiration.

It's a new week and I'm hoping for some lighter news and a little less stress. Will that probably come? Probably not- either way I am ready. I do love what I do for a living and hope others can see that as I try to help them deal with the good and bad of the news that happens around the world.