Tag: thoughts

Life

Columbia Mall Shooting

Jessica Smith

Ugh. I don’t understand why people do the crazy things they do…

Columbia is my home. It is my happy place. It is where I grew up. It is where I went to school. It is where I bought my first house. It’s where we’ve met some of our best friends. It’s where we will have babies. It. Is. My. Home.

It could have been me at that mall. Or my husband. Or my sister, brother, mom, dad, stepmom, stepdad or mother-in-law. It could have been my best friend or my neighbors. It could have been someone I loved. It really saddens me that such a senseless act of violence took place in our mall, leaving three people dead. Three families are mourning the loss of their loved ones and I feel for them. I feel for them and at the same time am so eternally grateful that my sister and I weren’t shopping at the mall. Or that my hubby and I hadn’t just ran in to get food like we’d done two nights prior to the shooting. Or that my mom couldn’t get her manicure appointment until Sunday. So grateful that my loved ones are safe and didn’t have to endure the terror that filled the mall on Saturday.

I am also so grateful to live in such a great community with fantastic first responders. The Howard County police and all of the other first responders who attended to the mall shooting had the situation under control minutes after they received the distress call. I truly appreciate the professionalism and courage they displayed on Saturday and know that they do everything in their power to keep our community safe.

Here’s hoping the families that lost loved ones will find peace and this tragedy in Columbia will help inspire a change. No family and no community should have to suffer a loss like this.

Hug your loved ones tightly.

#HoCoBlogs

Uncategorized

Our hearts go out to Boston

Jessica Smith

In light of yesterday’s tragedy at the Boston Marathon, I’m forgoing a craft post. Instead, I wanted to share a link to a friend of a friend’s blog: http://carriejones.livejournal.com/304150.html.

She was at the marathon yesterday and wrote a very compelling account of what it was like to be a bystander amidst the chaos. She wrote about the terror of the day, but she also  about people coming together to help one another in a desperate time of need. 

Let’s face it. People really suck. Big time. But not all people are bad — in fact, a lot of people are good. Maybe even most people. That’s what we should take away from the tragedy in Boston and from her blog. When we needed each other most, we had people to lean on, people to depend on. There were more good people in Boston yesterday than there were bad, and they exemplified what it means to be caring and loving human being.

Here’s to never giving up hope that good will conquer evil, and here’s to hoping we can still manage to see the good in people even when tragedy strikes. Here’s to Boston.

My thoughts are with you all.