There’s a lot of ranting and raving going on today.

Well, to be fair, there’s been a lot of ranting and raving going on for awhile. Everywhere you turn SOMEONE has SOMETHING to say. And they’re usually pretty damn angry about it.

And I get it. I do. There’s a lot to be angry about in the world today. I look around at all the things going on, and I feel scared. Frustrated. Irritated. And yes, completely irate at times.

And some authors like to vent. On their webpages, on Twitter, on blogs. And that’s okay. We’re writers. That’s how we make sense of the world. We write about it. IN BIG, BOLD LETTERS WITH LOTS OF SWEAR WORDS SOMETIMES.

But that’s not me. Sure, I may vent to my family or my friends. But I keep my politics personal. That doesn’t mean I’m not active or that I don’t care. Quite the opposite actually. My motto with my kids has always been to “spread kindness.” So that’s what we try to do. The easiest way to fight evil is by making someone happy. Give a kind word. Plant flowers. Bake something. Clean up somewhere. Donate something. Are you going to change the world or set off a political firestorm? Probably not. But you will have perhaps made a person’s day brighter. A person who is maybe weighed down by the ugliness in the world. A person who has maybe BEEN ugly to another. Any maybe, just maybe, your kindness will change him or her.

So the whole point of this post is to let you, dear reader, understand that my silence is not apathy. There are many different ways to cope with our world. And, while I can understand the need to scream at injustice, I can promise you that you will never see me spewing more anger, frustration, or hate into an already over-heated mob. I will always, always, always find a way to #spreadkindness instead.

Will you consider doing the same?