I have heard people say for as long as I can remember, "don't waste precious moments with your family and friends." You never know just how incredibly special someone is to you until they are gone. Death is a part of life, that everyone encounters whether it be through the loss of an acquaintance, loved one, or facing your own death.
My life has been rocked by hardship and loss. To say that any moment could be your last is a revelation that rings true to its nature. Like so many, growing up I though that I was invincible, that no one or no harm could come to me. I now realize how incredibly faulty that perception of life was. Wake up world, there is evil and danger all around.
The Aurora movie theater shooting hit so close to home for me. A Colorado native, I was all too aware of the horrific Columbine High School massacre growing up, and yet I could not relate because I was still so young. You think, hey it will never happen to me. Little over two years ago, I was gripped by a fear all too real to imagine.
I chose to go out of state to Texas Christian University, some 780 miles from home. Going so far from home for college was a huge decision. As an independent, strong-willed and adventurous person, I knew the choice was right. However, the first year was much harder than I had imagined. Don't ever take for granted the things your parents provide and the companionship of family. The hardest thing to overcome was being without my siblings all the time. I didn't realize how much I missed them until they were no longer down the hall. So close to my baby brother and sister, I had a trying time dealing with the fact that I would be missing school dance preparations with my sister and continuous comedian laughter with my mischievous brother. I didn't want to miss out on seeing them grow up!
I remember the exact moment in which I discovered that my little brother's middle school was the target of a deranged gunman. I remember walking home from class on a perfect Spring day in Texas, carefree. I received a call from a friend asking if I had heard.... I remember being so confused. She told me there had been a school shooting, and I remember thinking how awful that was, yet still not grasping why she called me. I turned on the news and was in complete shock to hear that it was my brother's school.
In a panic, I dialed my little brother and could not reach him, so I tried my parents. They did not answer. Then I tried my sister and she didn't pick up. Those first few minutes felt like hours. Trying to stay calm I tried to dial my older brother, who at the time attended CSU in Fort Collins. No answer. My panic state became uncontrollably frantic and I dropped to the floor in tears.
So overwhelmed by the thought of losing my baby brother, my best friend, I began to think of the worst case scenario. My older brother, Drew, finally called me back but had no answers. It wasn't until later that evening I was able to get in contact with my mother.
After such hysteria, I was terrified that my brother had been one of the victims. My mother told me he was in the hospital which made me think that he was injured. (During a crazy time like that, the way that you receive information is so critical and the first words I was told, "hospital," did not set well).
Miraculously my little brother had not been at school that day due to a severe reaction of pain medication he was allergic to and was admitted to the emergency room just minutes before the shooting. Cole was at the hospital being treated when some of his friends, the victims of the shooting, were brought in.
God was watching over my brother that day. God has a plan for everyone and it was a miracle he was not at school. He would have been standing in the exact area he did every day after school, where the gunman opened fire, injuring three children before a teacher and parents tackled him to the ground.
A close friend of Cole's was standing next to a girl who had been shot, so close that blood splatter his his face. He recalls dropping his backpack and running, not thinking, just running. He was so disoriented and in shock from the shooting that he found himself lost and in an unrealistic haze between imagination and reality.
Awful events like this seem so unreal. The sad truth is that they are very real. Just like the recent Aurora theater shooting that shocked the community at large. What truly amazes me most is that despite the evil in the world, the light shines through overpowering the darkness. People come together in grievance, giving and unity to empower one another and overcome life altering situations.
My father always told me, "It's not about what happens to you that matters; what matters is how you deal with it and the person you become as a result." Evil will always exist in the world, but do not live in fear of evil because then and only then will evil triumph. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke
I've seen the good in people triumph every day. I believe that no act of kindness is ever wasted. The number of heroic stories that have flooded media since the Aurora shooting is inspiring. Likewise, over the past few years I have been a first-hand witness to the empowerment and growth of my little brother since the Deer Creek Middle School shooting. He truly grasps life by the reigns and has learned to enjoy every minute of this time he has on earth. It is not fair that someone so young has to experience and witness such a trying event, which he has relived through not only his eyes but the eyes of each of his friends there that day.
They all have chosen to take each day by storm and live each moment as if it were there last. I am so proud of my baby brother, he continues to bring joy into the lives of everyone he meets. He will be successful in whatever he chooses to pursue. I must say that he may be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. As an inventor, he is a young prodigy and as a person he is a natural comedian. I love you Bear.
Don't take life for granted. You get one ticket on the life train and there is no return. Use that priceless gift well, do good for others, and don't waste a breath on hatred.
My heart, words, thoughts and prayers go out to the recent victims, as well as friends and family affected by the Aurora tragedy. Healing is a process and will take time. Know that there are so many GOOD people out there willing to stand by your side through that process.
"Hatred paralyses life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
