Friday, January 19, 2007

It started off as any other day....

Well, maybe not EVERY other morning since I don’t always get up at 5:30 AM to go workout. But on this particular morning I did. And I came home and felt energized. My kids were up, dressed, and ready for school. My husband was on his way out the door to work. At about 7:20 AM I poured a cup a coffee and headed upstairs to shower. It was at this same moment a 15 year old boy was stabbed to death by a 16 year old fellow student, in the halls of a local high school. The same high school I used to attend basketball games at. The same high school that was the rival team to the high school I attended many years ago. If it could happen there, it could happen anywhere.

I thought about the parents of the victim. I thought about the parents of the alleged attacker. I thought about all those panicked parents waiting for word from their children that they were okay. And then I thought about my own children. This could have been them. Granted, they are not even in elementary school yet, but they will one day attend a school just like that one. There were no weapon detectors- and why would there be? This was a “normal” high school. How did this happen? What will they do to make sure this never happens again? I want to know. I want to know exactly what happened. What could possible have led to such a violent act. Surely there was some sign of what was to come. There has to be. Because if not, there’s no way to feel reassure about the future.

While I am sure it will be awhile before we know any details of this horrific incident, I do know that for those involved and near to the incident, this was far from being just any other day. It’s the first day to a journey one never could have imagined in their worst nightmare.