A Day of Remembrance

Today I'd like to take a little break from sports. There are things in life that are much bigger than sports and this happens to be one of them.

On this day, Valentine's Day, 3 years ago, Steven Kazmierczak opened fire on a classroom in Cole Hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. During this massacre, a total of six people were killed, five students and Kazmierczak. This is currently ranks as the fourth deadliest university shooting in US history.

For those of you who do not know, I am an alum of Northern Illinois University and was a student there at the time of this incident. However, I did not have a class that day and was not on campus.

Every year around this time, sometimes I still have a hard time not thinking about the what-ifs. Throughout my time at Northern, I never once had a class in Cole Hall. During several semesters however, including the spring 2008 semester, I had to walk directly in front of or behind Cole Hall, depending on where I was parked, to get to and from a class. Who knows what could have happened had this incident happened on a different day. Thinking about that still scares the [poop] out of me.

So for today, February 14, 2011, forget about sports. There are much more important things in life. Please take a moment out of your day today to remember those who lost their lives on this day 3 years ago. They are:

Catalina Garcia, 20

Julianna Gehant, 32

Ryanne Mace, 19

Daniel Parmenter, 20

Gayle Dubowski, 20

I'd also like to encourage you to say a prayer for the family of shooter Steven Kazmierczak. Even though he committed a horrible act, this day has to be just as hard, if not harder, for his family.

For those interested, there will be a ceremony on the campus of Northern Illinois University at 3pm (central) today. For those planning on attending in person, you are asked to gather at 2:30 in the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Commons. If you are unable to attend, but still want to view the ceremony, there will be a free webcast available online here.

Forward, Together Forward!