United We Fall..

On the day of the Fort Hood tragedy, I had been flipping through the channels of my TV in a zombie-like state, when I saw the headline of a news channel (the specific channel has been forgotten). I remember seeing the words “Fort Hood” being portrayed in a large red graphic at bottom of the screen. My first thought was, where is Fort Hood and what happened there? I didn’t put too much thought into it though and my concentration was soon elsewhere.

The next morning however, I was picking up my daily issue of the New York Times for my writing class here at Kalamazoo College, and on the front page, above the fold, were two stories related to the Fort Hood incident. I was dumbfounded after I read them. I couldn’t believe that one of our own U.S. Army officers had turned on his fellow soldiers. It’s tragic enough to hear about American Soldiers being killed overseas, but to hear about them being killed at an American base, by a U.S. Major in the army is just downright depressing. There is absolutely no excuse that could possibly justify his actions. I don’t care how badly he was trying to avoid going overseas or how bad his personal life was going, what he did was unforgivable. It’s also sort of ironic in a way because the man was a psychiatrist. He had dealt with a number of psychologically ill soldiers; it’s too bad he couldn’t help out himself. I just can’t stop thinking of how terrible it must be for the families and loved ones of those who were killed. Each killed soldier was a brave son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, or friend to someone. They were so willing to protect this country and its citizens, so willing to fight for freedom; for the U.S. of A. The men and women murdered by Nidal Malik Hasan were getting medical treatment before being shipped off to the Middle East. Lord knows they were already nervous and scared about what they would be experiencing over there, which is why it is so unbelievably tragic that they couldn’t even find peace on American soil before being deployed.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the thirteen people who lost their lives at the hand of this rogue soldier. Though my sympathy will not bring back their loved ones, I hope they can find strength and guidance in this time of tragedy.