Blessed

April flies by way too fast to really know what each day brings. Being a student, you have tests, projects, and papers just to keep up with school. Then your personal life and whatever may come with that. Then you have all the extracurricular stuff such as club meetings, banquets, contests, you know...end of the year wrap-up activities. In this hectic and some what chaotic time, we tend to forget how very blessed we are.

In 1995, I was a first grader at Harmony Elementary in Cushing, Okla., when I heard a loud noise. I remember looking around and everyone in my class heard it. Not many will believe that a town over an hour away from Oklahoma City would hear this boom, but we did. That afternoon, every TV station was reporting about a bombing that took place at the Alfred P. Murrah Building. This attack claimed 168 lives, left hundreds injured, and probably had countless other effects on people we will never know.

In 1999, a high school shooting in Columbine, Colo., claimed 12 lives and left many injured. Ten years ago today, families lost their loved ones. This has seemed to cause an uproar with security in our school systems. This includes our elementary schools. These kids are too young to have these type of feelings.

In 2007, as a freshmen in college, reports were all over the TV saying a shooting had taken place at Virginia Tech. This left me scared as I walked across campus the next morning to attend my 7:30 a.m. class. We all became Hokies that day.

Amidst these tragedies, we have to look back on these things and say we are blessed, don't we? My thoughts and prayers will forever go out to the families and friends who lost people in these events. When April appears to become too fast, I will remember how blessed I am.

Blessed not because of these events, but blessed I was given the opportunity to live another day. Blessed to still have my family and friends. Blessed to live in a free country. Blessed to say "In God we trust!" There are many things to be thankful for...you might just have to look around.