What always strikes at my heart is the juxtaposition between evil and goodness, between tragedy and joy. 

I read about a hundred innocent people in Paris being murdered last night.

Today I watched Iowa set the college wrestling dual meet attendance record. I saw 42,000 joyous people, celebrating together.

I saw photos of friends' kids on Facebook--smiling happily or sleeping peacefully or laughing carelessly.

It takes too much of my heart to try and reconcile the starkness of those alternate realities.

All I can think to do is to embrace the joy, and do my best to spread it to others. If there's more joy, maybe there's a little less evil.

A smile, a hug, a kiss, a high-five, a word of encouragement...the simple ability to treat others with respect, to say thank you, to be grateful, to put as much joy out there as you can.

What else can we do?