a heavy heart on this frigid day

It seems that every time I've been looking at my email the past 24 hours, I've been seeing such sad news that hits way too close to home. Yesterday, I was visiting a few accounts in Baltimore County and I happened to see a newsflash from the Baltimore Sun reporting that a former aide was found dead. His family found him in their basement home in the town that we grew up in. We had gone to middle school together, our families were friends. Our lives went in completely different directions. I hadn't seen him in many years. I hadn't thought about him recently until his name was all over the news last month. But now, I am heart-broken for everyone involved in this whole thing and so very sad that it came to this. 

Today there was a shooting at the mall in Columbia. 3 people - including the shooter - are dead. I cannot wrap my head around this. I don't really care who it was or why. I just am so saddened by this violence and all of the people that were impacted. One of Kendall's friends was working at the mall when it all happened. There were hundreds of innocent people there including many children. I am afraid for future generations. There seems to be an anger, a lack of caring, a lack of love and respect toward other people that I do not understand. It makes me want to hold on tighter and longer.