A Better World

The rest is silence.

Other than the fact that I am a human, I don't understand why this is affecting me so much. Today, on their first day back, a kid was killed in a shooting at a local high school. I was at work when I first heard about the news. It came from someone who was late to their job because she had been caught up with the breaking news that was happening half a city away from where we were. Her complaint, within a certain context, was understandable. But the delicate subject at hand added an element that made her complaint insensitive, untimely, uncalled for...

...wrong.

At the time I had heard about news, there were only rumors of injuries. Within the better part of the hour, we found out that there was, in fact, a fatality.

As I stare at this statement, I find a harsh reality from those callous words. With one sentence, I had reduced this stolen young life into a horrible statistic.
I am no better than the person who was complaining about being late to work.
The person died. He had returned to school from Christmas (yes, I'll call it that) Break. I remember those days. You're glad to see your friends after a long break. You're excited to show off the best stuff you received for Christmas, and within minutes, you're back in the gossip groove. You're complaining about the holiday homework and you're dreading the new wave of assignments your teachers had in store for you. It's an exciting time.

But for these kids, this January morning, there is nothing left but silence.

And profound sadness.

My heart breaks for these kids, their families, especially those who knew the person who had died.

This isn't much, but all I want to say is that I'm sorry, and that I, too, hope for a better world.