Renowned journalist, and former First Lady of California, Maria Shriver, is the ex-wife of bodybuilding legend, actor, and politician, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Like her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the 67-year-old has always had a penchant for philanthropy. From founding the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement to co-founding a brain health-promoting protein bar company with her son, Shriver is leaving no stone unturned to help society. She also never shies away from raising her voice to address pressing issues, like the recent spike in gun violence and its impact on communities. While Shriver leads with her actions, the renowned journalist shares her opinions through her weekly newsletter, The Sunday Paper. In the latest edition of the two-time Gracie award-winning newsletter, Srhiver penned a heartfelt note after the tragic school shooting in Nashville.

The philanthropist was heartbroken by the incident that took six lives, three of who were children. She also had a message for her readers.

What Maria Shriver has been thinking

One of the most popular columns of The Sunday Paper is Maria Shriver’s weekly essay, I’ve Been Thinking. In her essays, the author voices her opinions about prominent issues and snippets of her personal experience of trying to make sense of things. In the latest issue of her newsletter, Shriver wrote an emotional note on the horrific incident.

Last Monday, a school shooting in Nashville shocked the nation. A lone shooter with multiple weapons opened fire at the Covenant School, an academy within a Presbyterian church. Although fatally shot by Nashville police, the shooter’s rampage cost six lives. Three of his victims, Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, were nine years old.

However, instead of her letting the incident fill her with “rage,” Shriver wrote about taking a different approach. “Instead of trying to push up against it this week, I decided to just let it be. I let it in, and I listened to it,” she wrote. Shriver also mentioned the importance of “honoring and listening,” to the pain of others instead of “fixing or offering advice.”

Shriver urged her readers, “regardless of our religious identity or lack thereof,” to “think of our lives and the lives of others as holy.” The 67-year-old pointed out that the 9-year-olds who lost their lives were holy. However, Shriver wrote that everyone is holy because even adults were “someone’s 9-year-old child once.” The author lamented how people don’t see things this way.

READ MORE | “Didn’t Acknowledge I Exist”: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Ex-Wife Maria Shriver Makes A Heartbreaking Confession On Feeling “Invisible”

“That’s why Nashville is such a tragedy. That’s why it’s tragic that we as a nation are veering more and more towards treating each other as though we don’t matter,” she wrote in The Sunday Paper. However, Shriver ended on an optimistic note, urging her readers to be gentle and compassionate. She also asked them to treat “each other and ourselves in a manner that is holy.”

Watch this story | Arnold Schwarzenegger pays tribute to Reddit fans with a legendary picture