Thoughts on the Ft. Hood Trajedy
It's difficult to be moved by an abstract concept. Death and horror occur everyday, but they seem so removed from my everyday reality. However, I was surprised to hear about the shooting that occurred at Ft. Hood only 3 hours ago. At 1:30 pm, around 100 miles to the West of where I am, 12 people were losing their lives (31 were injured) ...I was eating pizza and surfing the internet. The rest of my afternoon unfolded in a similarly casual manner. But upon hearing the news I was surprised to find that my reaction was overwhelmingly one of contemplation, rather than sadness. These people had woken up, just as I had, with all intentions of having a normal, and most likely mundane, day. They had no reason to suspect that they would never again return home, never see their loved ones, and never live out their goals and dreams. Our lives can be disrupted at anytime, and thus, yet again, I come to the conclusion that we can't just throw away our time and our ambitions to achieve what we truly desire.