Sometimes there are no answers

Today a horrific shooting at a university in Virginia… dozens dead and wounded.

Pre-teen children have been in the news recently for doing sex acts in front of their classmates when the teacher was out of the room.

People setting fires to homes in the wee hours of the mornings, children dying in their beds.

Elderly people living in filthy conditions or extreme poverty, found only when they are missing for days — or weeks — or (as in the case of a few recently discovered mummies) years.

These are human tragedies, large and small, not natural — not part of life to be gotten through, these are things that need not happen.

But they do happen.

And there are no answers for many of them. But there may be answers for you: in what ways are you keeping tabs on your children? Do you know what they watch and do at their friends’ houses, at school? How do you stay in touch with your family whether next door or far-flung? What decisions do you make that increase or decrease the health of your family? Of yourself?

What does your community do to minimize bullying (primarily it seems a learned behavior), to support people with mental illnesses (who are more vulnerable to victimization), to deter crime?

And, when something sad happens, what is your response? Do you ignore it and hope it won’t happen to you? Do you sit down and talk about it as a family? Do you find a way to reach out to the people who were directly affected?

There often are no answers, no specific action that was or was not taken, about these personal tragedies. But with awareness we can and do make a difference.

There may not be answers, but there is HOPE.