Tragedy into Triumph

On the eve of the 6th anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings, I expected to pay tribute to the resilience of that town, that city, those families. I never expected to now be mourning another city after the horrible bombing of the Boston Marathon. It leaves no words, only emotion.

My heart truly goes out to every runner, every family, and every bystander that was there today. They were there for courage and celebration - no one expected this outcome. Such tragedy.

I can remember the Virginia Tech shooting as if it were yesterday. My sister was attending the school at the time and it was nerve wrecking hearing on the news what was going on and not being able to reach her. She, thankfully, was completely fine and was able to contact us as soon as she could to let us all know she was OK. Since then, there has been more school tragedies, mall shootings, and even a movie theater massacre - which can be called nothing less than that. There are people in this world who are trying to frighten you, scare you into not wanting to leave your home feeling safe. Its awful.

This all brings me back to being a mother. I love everything about bringing a child into this world - except for these insane people who try to ruin it and destroy our hopes of a peaceful world. All of these tragedies make me think of how I want to raise my kids and what to say to them when terrible things like this happen. I believe the simple explanations are the best. The details just confuse them, especially if they're young. We have to stress love and resilience and how to turn tragedy into hope - and move on with doing good things in life. Having a purpose is the best way I explain it. I tell my kids they are on this Earth to serve a purpose - as a kid their purpose is to have fun, go to school, and be a kid. As they mature, their purpose matures. Maybe its service through their school or a local organization, or maybe its volunteering to help another kid in school, or sports, or with music. Every child should learn that they are put here to love and help others - in any way possible. I always talk to my kids about how much they have and how lucky they are. We donate many clothes, toys, books, and food on a monthly basis to various organizations and church. They are well aware of this and they help choose what things they're willing to give up to others. Its important for them to learn not every kid is as lucky as they are.

Life doesn't have to be terrifying and we can't let these tragedies keep us from moving forward. We can learn from them and be a hero in the meantime - a hero to our children - and hope we instill in them the values of being good people. Loving people. Turning these tragedies into triumphs. We can all work together to make this world a better place.