Hey guys, well it has been a rough couple of weeks in the world news department (it makes me think that 2016 may not have been as bad as we all thought). The world is going through a pretty rough patch with three hurricanes hitting within the last two months or so, the government suppression of voters in Spain and the shooting that happened Monday night.

So I just want to take the time to tell you a little bit about everything that has happened to catch you up on the news. It is important to stay up-to-date on what is going on in the world (and this is not just coming from someone working for a newspaper) because then you are aware of events that might affect you even if you don’t think they will affect you.

Anyways, here is what is going on in the world.

September is usually hurricane season for the Atlantic and Gulf coast and according to New York Times it has been an unusually active season. As of Sept. 19, there have been seven hurricanes and four of those reached Category 3 or higher.

Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Houston, Texas on Aug. 24-25 and has claimed at least 70 lives according to the Associated Press in Time magazine. Hurricane Irma made landfall in early September and killed four people, and left many across the state without power.

Hurricane Maria not only caused massive amounts of destruction when it landed on Sept. 20, it also caused some political tension between the president of the U.S and the leaders of Puerto Rico. The death toll is still climbing as people are being found and around 95 percent of the population doesn’t have power.

Other countries are having their own issues as well, over in Spain there was a huge conflict between Spanish police forces and Catalan voters. The conflict arose when the government of Catalonia decided that it wanted to secede from Spain and moved to vote for their independence. As many as 844 people were injured, said an article in the Independent, when police officers used rubber bullets and riot gear to try and disperse voters. And even though the vote ended with a “yes” result, the Spanish Prime Minister said that the vote didn’t count and there will be no independence for Catalonia.

And if the world couldn’t get any darker, a mass shooting happened Monday night at a concert in Las Vegas, Nevada. The shooter, whose name I will not mention in this article, opened fire and killed at least 59 people and injured 527 others.

Now I know that right now the world is going through some hot garbage but it does give us a unique opportunity. All of this sorrow and pain that is going on in the world gives us the chance to come together and unite against the forces that seek to cause hatred and derision. Some people may jump at the chance to say that we need more gun control or that we need to help our own before anyone else but now is not the time.

Right now we need to work together to promote peace and love to the people around us. I know that sounds like hippie talk but the more that we work on loving each other and helping each other the less room there is for hate. You don’t have to make a big show of it but small acts of kindness go a long way. Buy someone coffee, hold the door for someone or even just listen when a friend is going through a hard time. Little things like that will spread and the world will be a better place for it.