In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, many children will be hiding under the covers. When tragedies such as Katrina strike, children, like many of us adults, have no way to understand the unimaginable. It is normal to be frightened of life threatening events. Also like us adults, children do best with certainty, predictability and stability...

Disbelief and anger flood our minds and hearts as news of senseless acts of murder settles into our consciousness. We grapple to understand… and there are no answers. A broken mind has taken its own pain and inflicted it on many more. The pain multiplies and we collectively stagger under the weight. In the face of such pain, the living...

The hum in the office grew as people filtered in that morning. Soft chuckles over some incident the night before, muffled conversations and ringing phones filled the air. Suddenly, an urgent tone broke in. The first reports of a possible tragedy began circulating, and while some employees wrapped up phone calls, one or two turned on a radio, and...

Life changing events happen to all of us. Important events that change the course of life from that day forward. The ones we choose are usually exciting and filled with anticipation: a wedding, a new career, a family started, a move made. All change the course of events in our lives from that day on and we step willingly into them. It’s the...

Canadian poet Bliss Carmon asked, “was it a year or lives ago?”  I felt a similar shifting of time as I saw the news feeds covering first anniversary of the tragedy at Virginia Tech.  It shocked me that it has been a year already.  How can time move so quickly when for 32 staff and students time stopped that day? It...