I don’t know why tragedies occur. And I find it hard to believe when some law of attraction people say a group of people attracted a tsunami, genocide, or shooting spree to them. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. Maybe the tragedies act to balance out the celebrations, or vice versa. It seems to me that any absolute answers to the ‘why’ is only speculation.

I do know that amid the chaos there are always those who think of others. I try to focus on the stories of the human spirit that occur during tragedies.

For instance, I read that Professor Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor, reportedly saved the lives of his Virginia Tech students by blocking the doorway from the gunman while he ordered them to leave. Even in the face of tragedy, there are those who will sacrifice their lives for others.

It did make me wonder: Is this one of the reasons that Prof. Librescu survived the Holocaust? So that 60+ years later he could save the lives of his students? (Amongst the other accomplishments in his life of course.) Will one of his students go on to make a scientific discovery that will change the world? We are all interconnected so it’s impossible to say what the long-term effect of a single action or inaction could be.

I don’t know if we’ll ever know for sure. It may just be my human mind trying to make sense of something that isn’t supposed to fit neatly into a completed puzzle.