Anything can happen — anywhere, anytime.
That’s what the grandparent of a student at Chardon Middle School in Ohio told a CNN reporter, just after he said he couldn’t believe a school shooting could happen in his town.
Chardon, a town of about 5,000, lost three high school students Feb. 27 in a school shooting. Two others were injured and the population was left emotionally shaken. The alleged shooter is in custody and was contained within an hour and a half of the incident, but his reasoning is still unknown. Police said it was an isolated incident and carried out by a single boy.
While the lives of every member of this small community underwent a chaotic upheaval, the people of Syria continued to fight in their near-civil war — a battle that has been ongoing for about a year.
The death count in Syria is always rising, and has reached about 7,500. While some recognize it is time for the violence to stop and resolutions to be reached, the conflict has not ceased. Even after fighting ends it will take time to repair the damage.
Syria and Chardon are on two drastically different levels, but similarities lay in the most important qualities and lessons.
A life is a life. It does not matter how it is taken, in the end it is still gone. Death is unpredictable. Violence will inevitably seep into a community and the events of a few hours impact everyone for a lifetime.
After the violence stops, families find out if it was their loved ones and the community grieves for the innocent lives lost. It doesn’t matter if it’s three lives in a community or hundreds in a country, those affected by death will never be the same. But eventually they will be forced to move on and rebuild.
Syria has not reached the point of rebuilding yet, but eventually the country will resolve the issues facing civilians and the government. It will take time to repair the country after a resolution has been reached — a time of grieving for past sorrows and healing to build a future.
In Chardon, the healing process began with a memorial service for the students who were killed. Classes will resume, the shooter is in custody and being processed and students discuss what happened.
Repairing the damage will take varying amounts of time depending on the situation, but what will never change is the existence of what caused the pain.
Our world is unfriendly more often than not in a broad scope. We need to be aware of this reality and accept that anything can happen anywhere, and at the same time not allow it to define us.
Life is a balancing act and violence is a lead ball tossed to one side or the other in an attempt to catch us off-guard. The trick is keeping it together long enough to stay on our feet. – See more at: file:///Volumes/argonaut$/stories/sections/opinion/stories/2012/March/6/violence_can_happen.html#sthash.Y1vTsgvX.dpuf
That’s what the grandparent of a student at Chardon Middle School in Ohio told a CNN reporter, just after he said he couldn’t believe a school shooting could happen in his town.
Chardon, a town of about 5,000, lost three high school students Feb. 27 in a school shooting. Two others were injured and the population was left emotionally shaken. The alleged shooter is in custody and was contained within an hour and a half of the incident, but his reasoning is still unknown. Police said it was an isolated incident and carried out by a single boy.
While the lives of every member of this small community underwent a chaotic upheaval, the people of Syria continued to fight in their near-civil war — a battle that has been ongoing for about a year.
The death count in Syria is always rising, and has reached about 7,500. While some recognize it is time for the violence to stop and resolutions to be reached, the conflict has not ceased. Even after fighting ends it will take time to repair the damage.
Syria and Chardon are on two drastically different levels, but similarities lay in the most important qualities and lessons.
A life is a life. It does not matter how it is taken, in the end it is still gone. Death is unpredictable. Violence will inevitably seep into a community and the events of a few hours impact everyone for a lifetime.
After the violence stops, families find out if it was their loved ones and the community grieves for the innocent lives lost. It doesn’t matter if it’s three lives in a community or hundreds in a country, those affected by death will never be the same. But eventually they will be forced to move on and rebuild.
Syria has not reached the point of rebuilding yet, but eventually the country will resolve the issues facing civilians and the government. It will take time to repair the country after a resolution has been reached — a time of grieving for past sorrows and healing to build a future.
In Chardon, the healing process began with a memorial service for the students who were killed. Classes will resume, the shooter is in custody and being processed and students discuss what happened.
Repairing the damage will take varying amounts of time depending on the situation, but what will never change is the existence of what caused the pain.
Our world is unfriendly more often than not in a broad scope. We need to be aware of this reality and accept that anything can happen anywhere, and at the same time not allow it to define us.
Life is a balancing act and violence is a lead ball tossed to one side or the other in an attempt to catch us off-guard. The trick is keeping it together long enough to stay on our feet. – See more at: file:///Volumes/argonaut$/stories/sections/opinion/stories/2012/March/6/violence_can_happen.html#sthash.Y1vTsgvX.dpuf