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Today I want to speak out and encourage you to do the same. On Live Lovely I focus on positivity and living a happy and lovelier life. My blog is about more than just my wedding photography. I put am emphasis on travel, simple living, and positive psychology because I truly believe they improve our lives. Sometimes I fear that blogging may look like an act of denial. I photograph and write about only lovely moments and ideas as if no ugliness in the world exists.
“Rainbows and butterflies,” my father says to me when I discuss the world as it should be, rather than how it is. There is so much beauty and goodness in the world, yet also much that needs fixing and I fear that most blogs pretend that these parts of our world do not exist, or they make the decision to leave them out. Our priorities need realigning when instead of speaking against hatred, we Instagram photos of our food. Of course, sharing things that make us happy and talking about our lives and sharing them on social media are perfectly acceptable, but with all things there is a balance. I wanted to take a moment to be self-aware, to say that weddings, and travel, and simple living, and blogging, are all great, but I am not a photographer and blogger for the sake of hiding from what is going on in the world. I do what I do in spite of it.
I studied as a photojournalist before becoming a wedding photographer and blogger. The importance of what journalists and photojournalists do to raise awareness and unite people against evil cannot be taken for granted. The images we have seen coming from Charlottesville are horrifying, but it is these images that are uniting people to oppose it. As a blogger, I hope to do my part. I do what I do because I want to inspire people to live happier and lovelier lives. If we surround ourselves and craft our lives around love and kindness then we are doing our part to make the world a better place and to make ourselves better people.
My request for you today is to not be silent. Stand up, speak out, and support your communities to promote empathy, kindness, and love. Not just today, but every day. It can be difficult when we hear a family member or friend make a racist remark or say something that is hurtful to someone else, in person or through social media. But keeping quiet is not an option. Your silence will be taken as approval and acceptance. It is only by standing against, even the “smallest” of remarks together, that we can conquer over hatred.
And my hope for you is that you experience the best of life; that you travel, meet new people from all walks of life, and expand your minds and open your hearts to make your world, and ours, a much more loving place.
