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The thing that is on everyone's minds this week is of course the horrific shooting of 20 innocent children at a Connecticut elementary school. Since it happened a few short days ago, I've been feeling a mix of emotions: sadness, fear, anger and disgust to name a few. I think what bothers me the most about this shooting is of course the poor babies that had their life taken so soon but also its the fear and lost of trust I think we all feel now. This event is shocking yes but unfortunately nothing new. We just have to look at the holocaust to remind ourselves that children have been killed before for unimaginable reasons. A look back through history shows us that the innocent often suffer the brunt of psychopaths. How many wives and countless others that dared to disagree with him did Henry VIII send to the guillotine? How many slaves were lynched because someone didn't like their skin color? How many civilians died brutal deaths because there were in the path of wars? Murder and hate are splashed all over the pages of the world's history. Sometimes it is wars that claim lives, other times a vicious ruler, or just pure evil reveling itself to us through the slaughter of the most innocent things in the world: children. Even though we live in a country known for its freedom, it has been compromised. Fear and mistrust run rampant in every corner of our lives these days. Being part of a society involves a certain level of trust but what do we do when that goes away. We trust that when we go to work, a plane isn't going to crash into our building, we trust that when we go the movie theater a lunatic dressed as one of the characters isn't going to open fire, we trust that when we go Christmas shopping, we won't have to duck for cover and we trust that when kids go to school they will be educated and nurtured, not brutally murdered. It has made me feel fearful. It is this that has affected me the most. Who is to say that when I get on the bus to go to work some disgruntled citizen isn't going to open fire? I don't know this yet I have to keep believing it won't happen. I have to keep believing that despite the presence of evil in the world, there is so much good and so much to be grateful for. I hope that these children have not died in vain and that something good comes out of their sacrifice. It is hard to see that far ahead because the pain of what has happened it still so fresh but I can hope. This world has seen its share of hate and evil and so I have to hold out hope that love and goodness will always shine through even in the darkest of circumstances.

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