Another tragic ending

"I have recently become a secret connoisseur..."

...of tragic endings.


Even so, one is never eager to experience, witness, or be otherwise impacted by yet another tragic ending. Especially when children are involved. If you live around here, then you know what I'm referring to (PDF), probably.

If not, you may have noticed the reference on the front page of CNN: "Three dead in military base standoff".

Such a shame.


About 3:30pm we got an email that said all gates are closed due to an "incident" on the base. I didn't really think much of it then, because such things have happened before in my nearly eleven year employment at the base. But when I tried to leave at 4pm to pick-up my daughter from her school softball practice and saw that every square inch of asphalt on the streets and parking lots was covered by cars trying to leave, I knew there was something bigger going on. I had to call my ex-wife and ask her to pick up my daughter instead, as it was impossible for me to leave.

It took another few minutes before possible details began to emerge, and not much longer before the tragic ending revealed itself. While I don't mean to trivialize the tragedy of others with the inconvenience to my own day, it took about another hour, from when they opened the gates, to when the traffic was manageable enough for me to make another attempt at departure. A lot of time to think about the tragedy itself.

The loss of life, of children. The resources expended to surround and storm the home after the shots were fired. And the subsequent direct impact to the lives of several thousand people. Such an unimaginable result for a single act of selfishness. And, like all tragic endings, there is still the aftermath.