Senseless Sadness

On Thursday morning, four U.S. Marines were killed in Chattanooga, Tenn., when a gunman shot at two separate military facilities: a military recruiting center and a Navy training reserve center. The suspected shooter is 24-year-old Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, who also is dead, according to the FBI. The shooter's motivations are as yet unclear, but the investigation is being treated as "act of domestic terrorism." 

My first thought when I heard about this was, "Not again." We hear so many stories of senseless violence these days, we almost become immune to it.

Until we find a personal connection. Sadly, there is one in this case.

When one of my nephews had posted something on Facebook about his shock at losing his friend Carson, I assumed it was a car accident or something. I did not put 2 and 2 together until later, when word came out that one of the shooting victims was Sgt. Carson Holmquist of Grantsburg, Wis., the town where I was born and where some of my family still lives.

After learning further details, it seems 2 nephews and a step-nephew all went to school with Carson and my brother-in-law is good friends with Carson's dad. On top of that, Carson's young widow is the daughter of a man who grew up with us in our neck of the woods west of Luck. 

Small, sad world. So many connections. So many people hurting from this senseless act. 

Jim and I paid a visit to our nephew Tony today. Since they don't get a lot of news behind bars, he hadn't heard about the shooting. So we had to break the news to him about Carson, who was in the class behind Tony at Grantsburg High. Tony had hung out with both Carson and his brother. Like everyone else, he was shocked. I promised to copy and paste some news stories into a letter and send it to him so he could learn more.

Even though there are no clear answers at this point.

It makes me grateful once again that Tony and my nephew Matt both survived tours of duty in Iraq and made it home safely. And more importantly, stayed safe. 

I don't think we give our enlisted men and women and law enforcement personnel enough credit or appreciation for their bravery and sacrifices. I, for one, am going to try to do a better job of expressing that. 

Before it's too late.