People are good.

I'm taking a very quick study break to write about something I'm sure you were already thinking about anyway.
It's been the topic of every discussion. 

It's been on almost everyone's facebook status. 

By now I think we've all heard about the chilling shooting in Connecticut. 

Most of us have shed a tear or two by now. 

I can't imagine how terrifying that could be for all those kids, their parents, and the staff at the school. Just thinking about it gives me chills... but I don't want to focus on that. 

I've seen a lot of status updates saying things like "I've lost hope in humanity" or somehow blaming our wonderful country for this tragedy. Some want to home school their kids now and others are afraid to leave the house. I definitely agree that it's awful someone could do such a thing and to know that all those kids suffered because of how one man chose to use his free agency. It can be scary.

However, I think we're forgetting that it was one person. Yes, one man made an awful choice that I'm sure thousands will suffer from, but that doesn't automatically make people or our country as a whole bad. This isn't new either. The most deadly attack in schools that I know of was in 1927. He used bombs and I believe killed 44 people. Push the gunman from this tragic event out of your head for a second. Think about all those heroes. Think about all the good parents who left work immediately to go comfort their children. What about the custodian who ran down the halls alerting teachers while the safer choice would have certainly been for him to hide. The teachers were so brave and protected their kids. The kids comforted each other. The principal and (they think) the school psychologist were killed in efforts to protect the children. The SWAT, police men, firefighters, EMTs, and other officials were heroes as well. So yes, there was one very bad choice made, but there were hundreds of other courageous people with beautiful hearts. I'm touched by their example. We have one reason to lose hope, and thousands of reasons to increase our hope. People are good.