The world lost numerous promising young people yesterday. I know people die every single day; I am quite aware of the reality of accidents, injuries, chronic disease, and old age that play into these statistics. But yesterday, a large group of people were slaughtered, inside a school nonetheless.

For my generation, school shootings/mass shootings/spree killings have become unfortunately common. I know this type of violence crosses my mind in December because of the December 14th 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut. The news media reflects on the loss of those children and the burden placed on their parents to move forward with their lives. Yesterday, this form of violence hit schoolchildren and their instructors in Pakistan. The news has stated the Taliban terrorists killed 141 people yesterday. The educators and children lost is a devastating blow to their respective communities, the global community, and most importantly, their families.

You should never be fearful of sending your kids to school, but that’s becoming a more frequent reality for families. While I was serving on my first deployment, a similar tragedy occurred in Beslan, Russia. The families of the victims of these tragedies, and other similar such tragedies, are bound in grief no one should experience. As a parent, my heart goes out to these parents and the loss of their children.

~C