Seattle Pacific Shooting Aftermath

[ChristinaTherese]

Just a quick update on how I see things here: People are pulling together as a community. We've had counselors available, prayer services yesterday (packed and overflowing from the overflow room with only an hour of advance notice) and today (filling something like four different large rooms on campus, maybe more). We're reeling, we're in shock, we never thought this would happen to us. But we're together. We have friends, and the faculty and staff are there for us as well. I went across campus offering cookies today, and found friends of mine who don't have family close enough to be with them (well, maybe one does, I'm not sure) spending time together. The campus security staff seemed tense when I knocked on the door, but were glad to see that I was just being nice and offering cookies and, unless I was particularly daft (I'm not known for being eloquent, after all), thanking them for their service to us in this time. I've heard of prayer services at Catholic churches nearby, and I assume others are rallying to the charge as well.

 

Yes, this is a time of trial, but I'm seeing a lot of hope. Even just little things, like messages of hope being left around campus by the service club on the signs that they normally use to announce service projects. All the rallying together, the community we have. I was touched this morning (it brings tears to my eyes even now) by seeing just the very little thing of someone wearing a t-shirt that said "I love SPU". It's from a different thing, a week that happens every year to raise money for a scholarship to help out our classmates who would otherwise have to leave. But it's so true. I love SPU. I love this school, my home. And I'm very proud and encouraged and touched to see all of the signs of hope around us.

 

Thank you for your prayers, everyone. And our fight is not over. I don't know if it ever can be, entirely. I'm not sure it will ever feel the same walking through the lobby of Otto Miller, where the shooting happened. I can't even look at the building without shuddering right now. There is hope, but please keep prayer for us. And pray for the shooter, and for the students who took him down and all who were impacted personally by being wounded, being present, or (like one of my friends) nearly walking in minutes before the shooter and then returning to find the carnage. (My friend only turned around to get food.) One of my classmates was wounded. The man who was killed was in a class with my roommate. I'm hoping (and I think it's reasonable) that I don't know either of the others. But we're all affected. We're hurting. We'll get through, but it won't be easy, and we need prayers.

 

I don't know what this summer will bring for me. I'm kind of in shock right now. I baked cookies and headed out to wander around the campus apartments (and the president's house and the security office) and spread both cheer and cookies, but didn't feel like cookies myself. I did by the time I got back, having given them all away except for one that I taped to my PA (Peer Adviser, RA at most schools)'s door. It was good for me too, even though starting out I was thinking more about it being for others than for myself. But when we sit back, when we take a break, I don't really know what my emotions will do with me. And I think it's the same for all of us. We have varying reactions, and they're going to take a while. But we have families and friends too. We are not alone. If anything, we've learned that in the last day and a half. (I was in an office during the lock down, where I had gone to ask a question and they were having trouble coming up with an answer. Once we knew what was happening, everyone was on their phones texting and checking to see that their friends were safe. We had people from other states contacting us, making sure we were alright.)

[ChristinaTherese]

A blog post a friend posted on facebook: http://falconstrong.wordpress.com/2014/06/06/an-open-letter-to-the-spu-gunman/ (And, yes, I know I should be in bed. I don't know.... It's a strange time. I wasn't really sleepy until a little bit ago. And I'm still not as tired as I should be at this time of night.)

[Perigrina]

That was a great idea to do your cookie run.  Trying to do something for others is often one of the best things to do in a crisis.

[tinytherese]

I recommend reading The Gift of Fear and Other Survival Signals that Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker, particularly chapter 12.

It helped me to understand the Sandy Hook Shooting.