A Nation in Mourning

A Remembrance

It's as if an old wound never heals but this time it cut to the heart. It got very close and personal as if the enemy is within and around the corner.

How could that happen? People are trying to reconcile an irrational situation.

What happened to our society? People are looking for a deeper cause.

Gun control! That must be THE answer. People are finding a cure.

However, when we are facing someone who is willing to take his own life, no gun control of any kind can stop him. It may check the flows of new guns into the society but how do you deal with 200 million private-owned firearms currently in circulation? When someone is on a mission, he will find access. Gun control is a deterrent but not a cure.

When our 24/7 news cycle intensified the campaign of and increased the publicity of random killings, this is not the kind of journalism that helps a nation heal but rather feeding on the fear and anger of people and satisfying the media's insatiable hunger for sensationalism and an edge over the other networks.

Killers are watching. Crazies are listening. They found the nation's old wound and raw nerves. They will exploit it. They will copycat. That's their way of getting back to a society that, they think, has abandoned them. They have nothing to lose. They are willing to die.

As we are mourning the loss of lives, feeling for the deep pains of the families who lost their dear children, and singing the heroism of the brave guardians, let's take a step back and look at the big picture.

- 911
- Syrian
- Earthquake
- Tsunami
- Holocaust
- World Wars

No innocent deaths are tolerable. No heartless killings are justifiable. Don't want to sound defeatism. Unfortunately, it happened, it is happening, and it will happen again.

So what should we do?

As we are steeling ourselves to look to the future, we need to constantly remind ourselves how fortunate we are who we are and where we are. Our own worries and concerns become trivia and inconveniences in a larger context.

- Hold your loved one tighter.

- Be kind to people around you.

- Lend a helping hand when you can.

- Be more tolerable. Don't feel crossed of YOUR parking slot taken or if someone cut in front of you in the traffic.

- Be thankful of little moments life has to offer.

Live to the fullest!