There is little one could say that has not been said concerning the tragic shooting last Thursday at Northern Illinois University. I have read the reports and articles detailing the horrors that we have all become too familiar with. Like most of you, I can remember where I was when I heard about it. I was sitting at my computer going through my normal Internet routine. I eventually got around to checking my e-mail. I saw something sent to me by one of my colleagues at work titled “Shooting at NIU.” I quickly opened it and started scanning the lines. “[.] about two hours ago there was a shooting incident at Northern [.] I thought I would alert you in case you had friends, family, colleagues at NIU.” My eyes widened, my jaw slackened and I thought, “Oh my god. It happened again.”

This is a tragedy in the ultimate sense. It was quick, it is unexplainable and it is so mercilessly final. There is nothing can be done to bring back those five students that have left us. Those who survived will never be able to forget this day. The parents of those who have passed will never know what it was to see their children reach their full potential. They are suffering through a loss beyond comprehension. They will have to endure the cruel questions that inevitably plague the grieving mind. “What if my son or daughter had arrived a minute later, what if she had gone to that other school instead?” One can only hope they can overcome the loss.

We all feel a slew of emotions when these events occur. I do what I imagine many of us do when these occurrences take place. I try to picture what it must be like to be trapped in a room with a madman and his gun. I run through the scenarios. “Would I jump out of a window? Would I lunge at the gunman or hide in the hope that he will not shoot me?” Then, having imagined the horrors, I am quick to assure myself that “It can’t happen here.” Well my friends, we can no longer say that is the case.

The reach of this tragedy does not end in the halls of NIU or at the homes of the grieving families. The shooting took place in DeKalb, but all of us have to deal with its consequences. On that fateful day, I am certain some of us clung to the phone waiting to hear from a loved one that was at NIU. They now know what Aristotle describes as the fear that “arises from anticipation of evil.” What a dreadful experience.

This is not the only consequence of this dark event. All of us must come to terms with the fact that the shooter was one of us. It seems almost incomprehensible that a member of our community would be capable of causing so much harm. I like to think of fellow students as comrades, as individuals united through common experiences. We come to each other’s aid when it is needed. I have found this to be overwhelmingly the case. But what do we do when our trust in these principles is shaken so violently by such an act?

I’ll tell you what we do. We show that these convictions can be shaken but never crumble. We persevere by expressing our love for our communities and for each other. We show our solidarity with the students, staff and faculty at NIU. We show that they will not bear this tragedy alone. We assure them that we will be there to help them every step of the way as they try to regain a vestige of normalcy. We show that while we cannot control the acts of a disturbed gunman, we can mold our shared grief into a testament of hope. We will not forget those that have passed and those that bear the scars of this event. But ultimately, how we come out of this tragedy will be depend on how we act as a community, as a student body and as individuals. Based on what I have seen, the people of Northern Illinois University and our own community will prevail and emerge as committed to each other as ever.

Othman is a senior in political science and holds all of the people at NIU in his thoughts.