Once there was Harvey, but he was not the first, just the first name I can hang my mind on.

Then there were earthquakes.

Then there was Irma.

Then there was Maria.

Then shootings.

And fires

And so much more I can’t contain in my head in the few minutes I take to write this.

So many people devastated. So very many.

As Teju Cole notes,

We may not be able to attend to each outrage in every corner of the world, but we should at least pause to consider how it is that mainstream opinion so quickly decides that certain violent deaths are more meaningful, and more worthy of commemoration, than others.

And in our pauses, choose to do some small part to alleviate the suffering, increase the love in the world.