This is not what I want to be blogging about. Really I don't even know what to say.
On Thursday of this week, an employee went into Excel and started shooting. While this was happening, I was on my way to the Hesston Wellness Center for our last Thursday evening yoga class. When I got to class, I heard what happened. I frantically texted my friend who works there. After learning she was fine, I tried to focus on class, but that wasn't happening.
I live about 4 blocks away from Excel and adjacent to the fire house. Today, 4 days after the accident, the road in front of excel is still blocked off and there are more cars park by the firehouse then this town has ever seen. All around town, mowers are parked on curbsides with signs. Down the street, a handmade sign hangs on the elementary school's fence saying "#HesstonStrong. (Although the wind quickly ripped it to shreds). I waited behind 2 state and/or federal agents getting coffee at the Lincoln Perk on Saturday morning. It's a very strange thing, especially since the national news media has already moved on.
As I saw the frenzy of emergency lights on Thursday night, it was hard to keep back tears and a feeling of deep rage that mass shootings in this country are becoming the norm. Throughout the weekend, I kept overhearing that they can't believe this happened in tiny, quiet Hesston. What surprised me the most though was my lack of surprise. Don't get me wrong, it's shocking and so surreal. It's horrifying and heartbreaking. It's all of these things. Because of how easy it is for anyone to get their hands on automatic weapons, it is not that surprising that these things keep happening at a rate that is starting to feel like a weekly event. Of course is can happen here. It can happen anywhere and it does.
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| Photo by Hesston College |
I live about 4 blocks away from Excel and adjacent to the fire house. Today, 4 days after the accident, the road in front of excel is still blocked off and there are more cars park by the firehouse then this town has ever seen. All around town, mowers are parked on curbsides with signs. Down the street, a handmade sign hangs on the elementary school's fence saying "#HesstonStrong. (Although the wind quickly ripped it to shreds). I waited behind 2 state and/or federal agents getting coffee at the Lincoln Perk on Saturday morning. It's a very strange thing, especially since the national news media has already moved on.
As I saw the frenzy of emergency lights on Thursday night, it was hard to keep back tears and a feeling of deep rage that mass shootings in this country are becoming the norm. Throughout the weekend, I kept overhearing that they can't believe this happened in tiny, quiet Hesston. What surprised me the most though was my lack of surprise. Don't get me wrong, it's shocking and so surreal. It's horrifying and heartbreaking. It's all of these things. Because of how easy it is for anyone to get their hands on automatic weapons, it is not that surprising that these things keep happening at a rate that is starting to feel like a weekly event. Of course is can happen here. It can happen anywhere and it does.
"These are two more communities in America that are torn apart by grief and I felt it was important for me to say something today because somehow, as I've before, this becomes routine. These sort of mass shootings that are taking place. We cannot become numb to this. Anybody who says they want to keep the American people safe has to care about this, because it's happening in far too many towns and affecting far too many innocent Americans and there are things we can do about it. And right now this Congress might not have any appetite to do anything about it but we need one that does. As long as I hold this office I am going to keep on bringing this up even if it's not getting the same attention that it should." —President Obama on the shootings in Hesston, Kansas and Kalamazoo, Michigan: http://go.wh.gov/A6DhRZ #StopGunViolence
Posted by The White House Facebook page on Friday, February 26, 2016
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