I was just reading an article about the Virgina Tech shootings and found this quote by a poetry teacher who once had the killer expelled from her class particularly compelling and inspiring,

"We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid," the 63-year-old poet with the close-cropped, platinum hair told the grieving crowd. "We are better than we think, not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibility we will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears, through all this sadness."

Another article I read before the gunman had been identified said they weren't sure if was a terrorist attack and would be investigating the case fully. I'm sorry, but if this wasn't a terrorist act, I don't know what is....If you ask me, terror is terror no matter how you slice it...And violence only begets violence...It doesn't matter if it generates in the middle east or here at home....and while I wholeheartedly support and appreciate the men and women that serve in the military...The fact that we are still in this senseless war that isn't working simply doesn't feel right deep down in my soul.

I know this is usually a happy go lucky blog...But when I let myself think about the state of the world right now, it's easy to slip into a not so happy go lucky place. I think that's why the poetry teachers words above touched me so deeply...She helped me remember that despite all the blood and tears that are being shed in our world at large right now, the possibility of reinventing the future always exists. There is hope. Peace is possible...and it begins with me. And so it is. I think I'll go for a skip now....