it happened here

back in the spring of 1999 i was sitting in my office in dravo....a student walked in, looking distraught but seemed to be unable to speak....i sit her in a chair and she starts to cry uncontrollably....i asked some questions, what happened? are you hurt? is someone else hurt? she tried and tried to pull herself together....but all she could choke out is- i can't get thru....i ask, to who? then my office phone rings...it's one of my ra's telling me that something terrible has happened in colorado...had i seen the news? no, i hadn't seen the news, i had been working all day...and back then we weren't that connected to anything....the ra then said she was looking for one of her residents who was from colorado and she wanted to make sure that the resident wasn't from that area...i said, come to my office now.

that resident had lost a brother and some favorite teachers in columbine....she eventually told me that she couldn't get through to her family to find out what was happening....we got her on a plane as soon as possible...it was such a sad day...but i thought, "i am thankful it didn't happen here."

i think that a lot as i watch the news or hear about terrible tragedies, like columbine, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma City....i think, i live in a sleepy city....i have always lived in sleepy cities...places that you couldn't imagine the unimaginable...until it happens...

on friday it happened here...i was not in the area when it all happened....as a matter of fact i didn't know it happened until lunch time, when i turned on my cell phone again....i had been presenting all morning...a good friend had called to say a shooting happened in binghamton....myself and another friend thought she was wrong...it must be birmingham...not binghamton...because it couldn't happen here. but we were wrong and she was right...it was binghamton...

14 people lost their lives...13 of them were innocent...13 were going about their normal day....13 people who woke up assuming it was just going to be a friday....maybe they were thinking about their plans for the weekend...the 14th person, made the plans....it's scary to think that it happened here...the unimaginable...the unthinkable...the "that could never happen here" happened here.