If you have yet to watch the viral video where a Dad is talking to his son about terrorism (while being interviewed on camera), you are missing out.  Not only is the video touching, it’s a great lesson in how to deal with tragedy.  Here is part of the exchange:

Son: We have to be really careful because we have to change houses.

Dad: Oh no, don’t worry – we don’t need to move out.  Paris is our home.

Son: But there’s bad guys, daddy.

Dad: Yes, but there’s bad guys everywhere.

Son: They have guns.

Dad: They might have guns, but we have flowers.

The Dad then explains that the flowers are to “fight against guns” and to “Remember the people who are gone yesterday.”  The son concludes: “The flowers and the candles are here to protect us.”  Afterwards, the interviewer asks whether the boy is feeling better and the boy gives a resounding, “yes.”

This exchange is not unlike the infamous quote from Mr. Rogers:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.”

In a time of tragedy, it is important to remember what makes us human.  Mourning and honoring the dead is part of that process.  A week later from the shootings in Paris, my heart is still there.  With those killed in Africa and Mail.  Along with the father who helplessly threw himself in front of a suicide bomber (saving hundreds of people) in Beiruit this past week and with the people who die every day in the territory of ISIS.

Flowers and candles remind us that even if we experience the horror of horrors, life will go on.  There are always more people helping than hurting.  Humanity always prevails.  But I think the flowers and candles represent our resolve as well.  Our resolve to stand up to acts of terrorism and condemn those who succumb to it.  To say, enough.