I find myself getting caught in a trap of judgement. I read the news and everyone is taking sides on the current border crisis. I go to work and leave at the end of the day defeated, because there’s no solution to the current state of affairs. I go to bed worried that my little one is growing up in a terrifying world that will tear his honest and earnest little heart in two. And I can’t help judge and feel judged by everyone around me.

Are we all just doing it wrong?

The greatest lesson I have learned from losing my sweet angel is that there is something bigger, better, more beautiful awaiting me after this life. I know it. I feel it with every ounce of my soul. And I want to believe that what I do here on Earth matters. That the contributions I make will have a lasting affect, and people will be better because I was a part of this society.

But those values are so easily forgotten in the every day grind. When you watch the news, or scroll through the web, or peruse an online feed. It’s all so tragic, and chaotic, and devastating.

My girlfriend just got a tattoo inscribed on her forearm that says, ‘Be the change.’ Yes, please. I want to be the change. My sweet angel in Heaven, in three short years, without ever even understanding it, was the change. He changed me, and every life he touched.

I read countless stories every day of other tiny humans who spent mere moments on this Earth, and inspired momentous change.

I want to be the change. I want to be selfless, not judgemental. I want to be full of love, not resentment. I want to focus on the important, not the trivial. I want to care about what is in my heart, not other’s opinions.

I want my heart to be the only judge.