Responding to devastation

This morning I have been thinking a lot about the recent tragedies that have caused so much devastation and taken so many lives. My question is why? What is going on in the world today?

I'm sure many people blame God for causing so much pain. I don't think the Creator caused any of it to happen. I believe he/she/it simply allowed it to happen; but believing that I am still asking, why? Is it possible the universal devastation that has occurred and is occurring is meant to bring us together?

Because of knowledge I have accepted in recent years I believe that we humans agree to the experiences and lessons we are to work on, before we were conceived. Of course, all the details are not for us to know. I realize that not everyone believes this. It does put a different slant on things. It means that what happens during our life is exactly what is supposed to happen for our evolvement and there is nobody to blame when things seem to go wrong. 

All of my life there has been wars of some sort. I remember as a high school student having bomb drills along with fire drills. We were forced to squish ourselves under our desks. Although it was uncomfortable, I don't recall any fear involved. It was simply an inconvenience and a way to disrupt our work. I also remember times when my own children had to evacuate their school because some sick person had made a call saying an explosive device was going to go off. Again I don't think there was any real fear, but nobody was willing to take a chance on it being a bluff.

It's a whole different ball game today and I think part of the reason is the media. Almost instantly, when something happens the media starts in showing photos- over and over until I personally just want to scream shut up! It doesn't matter if it is a natural disaster like a tornado, hurricane, flood, fire, earthquake or some deranged person shooting up a school or crowd of event spectators. The media brings it right there in our living room.

Another thing that has changed is the recent focus on the first responders; those individuals who immediately step in to assist in whatever way they can. Perhaps that is the reason for all of this devastation; to give people a chance to care and share their universal love for their fellow brothers and sisters. A wake up call for us to remember we are one. God/Source does work in mysterious ways after all.