Make it Count

As you all might have heard, there was recently a student shooting on the campus of Northern Arizona University. The incident occurred in the middle of the night, and while there were thankfully less people out and about, four NAU students fell victim. It has been a large debate as to whether this should be considered the typical “school shooting”. To call this shooting typical would be straight-out inaccurate, but it did happen on-campus involving NAU students. For the community here at Northern Arizona University, we are all feeling this tragedy. Although we may not have all known the victims personally, we are all affected.

This is our home.

We all see the news. We were all sitting in the comfort of our rooms watching the most recent shooting in Oregon. Not one of the 25,000 of us at NAU could have possibly imagined that we would be the ones on the news. One of those four victims lost his life while the other three, his fraternity brothers, are currently laying in a hospital bed. Not one of them that day were thinking that they might be experiencing their set of lasts.

Last Thursday. Last party.  Last argument. Last punch. Last breath.

It has been five days since the tragedy and the effects can still be felt around school. Professors are canceling classes and postponing deadlines. In all honesty, I still don’t feel safe on campus.

“The threat has been contained”.

Sure, that is accurate. The eighteen year old shooter is in custody. The real threat, however, is with us every day now. This could happen to anyone, anywhere, at anytime. That is scary, terrifying actually.

While we are all taking our time to grieve, this incident has only made me realize that I need to see more, do more, and live more. We lost a soul, we may even lose another. But we have the opportunity to accomplish what they no longer can. It is heart-wrenching how so many die young, how little they really lived. But the bitter lesson from all of this is that we will never know when it is our time to go, so we need to make it count.

Take risks, follow your heart, and achieve your dreams.

Kiss a loved one and hug a friend.

Make a positive difference in someone’s life. We never know how the cookie is going to crumble, so make it count before it is too late.

Rest in love Colin Brough, you are missed.

Xx SOS


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