in sociology class 20 years ago i learned that something like 25% of the people walking down the street would kill you if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.  this is extremely disturbing. yet this past week we have seen this exact thing happen in arizona.  a young man walked up to a meeting at a grocery store and opened fire killing and injuring innocent people. people who lived inspirational lives and people who tried to save others from being hurt.in the same class, we learned that in a tragedy or crime society is comforted by the thought of catching the bad guy. this can mean literally catching the bad guy or finding the cause of the problem. so right now a lot of political analysts are blame-shifting and trying to find out why this happened and who is to blame for influencing this young man’s actions. i agree with the idea that people in the public eye and politics should be more careful with their words but who the hell knows what really influenced this crime. most likely it was years of different things from someone being rude to him and someone being a bully to him to a chemical brain imbalance to who knows what.i think a solution to decrease tragedies in life is to live your life with kindness and generosity like many of the victims of this horrible incident were doing. think about how much different your day goes when someone is nice to you early in your day then when someone is cruel or mean to you.  if someone gives you a free bagel one morning and makes you smile then, probably with the next person you encounter, you are in a good mood and it puts them in a good mood… then the ripple effect.  think about how much the world could change if we spoke to each other with kindness, fairness and thought.  i am not talking about letting people walk all over you. i agree we all should be able to say “no” in order to preserve our own sanity.  being kind does not mean being a doormat but it means having compassion and understanding. think about if your friend was out with you at a bar and had too much to drink and you helped them out by paying for a cab or giving them a ride home. you may have just saved your friend’s life and the life of the young mother who was just running to the store to buy medicine for her kid.how my life is changed by those 4 words, “what can i do?” i keep reminding myself over and over in many different situations what can i do to better this situation.  nashville flooded and many people became homeless and lost everything. so we cut down our water usage to help the city and we donated our time and any money we could muster to help rebuild people’s lives. i offered first aid to relief workers. i did everything i could think of within my power to help. then things like someone is going through a tough time because their child is in the hospital- what can i do to help?  you want me to get a doctor to your bedside so you can have some questions answered to relieve some of your worries?  i can do that.  you are in a hurry and need to get home to grab a quick bite before you have to run out to go to your next job- i can let you in front of me in traffic or the grocery line.think about that. what can you do to help?