This morning I wrote a blog post.
There had been an incident at the high school I graduated from on Tuesday — a student took his teacher and classmates hostage with a gun. The piece I wrote springboarded off of that, and it was equal parts annoyance, anguish, and anger.
All I needed to add to the blog post were some Twitter embeds, and I figured I could finish that off quickly at the office while drinking my morning tea.
Then I saw that a reporter and cameraman from Roanoke, Virginia, were executed this morning by a disgruntled colleague during a live television remote at Smith Mountain Lake.
Suddenly, what I wanted to say this morning about the events in West Virginia felt wholly inappropriate. Maybe I’ll say it someday. It’s appropriate to the Roanoke tragedy as well.
Words fail me, and what words I do have feel inadequate. What I will say is this.
Love the people in your life, and cherish each day you have. Events of the last forty-eight hours show, as well as anything, that life is full of senseless tragedy. Be kind and caring. Let go of anger and hatred and hurt. And do something tangible to make the world a better place.