Are We Forgetting Tragedies?

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UNITED STATES—When something tragic happens in the country it stays with us for a few days, and then out of nowhere we tend to move back to our normal lives. It’s almost like we completely block an event that has emotionally drained most Americans as if it never happened? Why do we do these things? I don’t have the answer to that question, but I couldn’t help, but continue to think about the Boston Marathon bombing that occurred over a year ago this week.

It was such a tragic event where 3 people lost their lives, dozens were critically injured and it struck fear to so many who participated in marathon running. For nearly a month or two, it was global news all over the world, and just like that it vanished from the headlines. The anniversary has prompted many news networks to revisit that event, but that still doesn’t take away from the fact that we forget things so quickly. Yes, the world doesn’t stop moving when a tragedy takes place, which I completely understand, but does that mean we shouldn’t do more to acknowledge these events?

I mean video blogs, charity events, public forums, we have to talk about things so we don’t forget how blessed we are to be living our lives, without living the pain or the emotional fallout so many others have encountered. Some of us take for advantage the privileged lives we live, without taking a second to think about the things that we do have and appreciating those things. We get so absorbed in our daily life we fail to acknowledge what so many others may be missing.

Tragedy is part of life. It may not happen directly to us, but it could happen to those surrounding us. Just as I was writing this column, I discovered an incident happened in Boston of a suspicious package that was found. My heart race peaked, why would someone do something this heinous and why? Attempting to understand the psyche of some people is just impossible nowadays. There are just some evil individuals who live in our world and we have to do all that we can to ensure those people don’t cause harm to us.

If there is one event that resonates with many with Americans, it’s the bombing of the World Trade Centers in New York City on September 11, 2011.  That was an event that literally shattered the safety ofAmericafor so many people. I just vividly recall seeing those planes crash into those buildings and all the aftermath that occurred after the event. It was the first time in history that almost every channel on television was talking about the terrorist attack day in and day out for more than 3 weeks. Some may have been exhausted by the countless coverage, but in my opinion I found myself glued to the TV screen.

I needed to know what was taking place, why and what could be done to deal with tragedy. Of course, countless therapists hit the airwaves in an attempt to get promotion in my opinion on how to deal with the event. I’ve come to discover you deal with tragedy by talking about it, but at the same time not talking about it. Yeah, it sounds weird, but the more you channel you energy into something bad, the more likely it is to continue to haunt you. There has to be a balance; you can’t allow yourself to drown in a tragedy because life does move on, but at the same time, you can’t just throw it out the window as if it never happened.

While tragedy is something that many of us encounter in our lives, as Americans we have encountered some terrible tragedies. We should not forget those things; we should acknowledge them and do all that is possible to pay tribute to those who may have perished because of evil acts.

By Trevor Roberts