So it happened.

Again.

Another mass shooting. Innocent lives gone at the whim of a lunatic.

What are we going to do about this?

I don’t know.

Raising small kids in a world where random and horrific violence is now commonplace, I am at a loss. No one teaches us how to talk to our kids about these tragedies. Mine are still young enough that I can shield them from the nightly news, but soon enough they will be old enough to know. And even then I still won’t have a good explanation for why it happens (and why it keeps happening).

So, here is what I am going to do now: I will spread some kindness.

Wouldn’t it be nice if this weekend we all went the extra mile to be kind? Smile at everyone you pass on the sidewalk. Pay for a stranger’s coffee. Drop homemade treats off at the local fire station. Share kindness with the world in memory of the nine innocent victims. Kindness won’t bring them back to their mourning families, but kindness will remind all of us that good still exists.

I pledge this weekend to spread some kindness in memory of the nine lovely souls who left our earth on Wednesday. I will be kind for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Rev. Sharonda Singleton, Cynthia Hurd, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Ethel Lance, Susie Jackson, Myra Thompson and Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr. They were good people devoted to family and faith, and the least I can do in their memory is share some love with the world.

Will you take the pledge, too?