I was born and raised in a town that many think is made up. It's known as "mall city", "celery city" and "the paper city". A place where you can go from a college campus to meet up with all your friends at a small town football game only minutes away. A place that I swore I'd never come back to, somehow stole my heart. That is why, in light of the news reported about a former Uber driver recklessly taking multiple lives this last weekend, I write this to you, Kalamazoo.

Everyone from home had a sense of invincibility. We had only seen the horrors of the real world on television, we'd never experienced them, and never thought we'd have to. The news broke that a place we all had once found security in was now a place of mourning late Saturday night and there was this feeling of shock. An overwhelming sense of this wasn't happening to the place we call home, a place that so many people we all know and love still inhabit. And yet as the CNN update flickered across my screen, and the people around me made their phone calls to loved ones on Western's campus, the disaster still seemed so distant. There's some sort of extra heartbreak learning about a hometown tragedy through the news. It's still hard to understand how someone could be so malicious in a city that flourishes on its energy and friendliness. But with the tragedy hitting home, it makes every other gun related tragedy hit home, too. As millennials and experiencing our first presidential voting experience this year, it forces us to listen to the outreach from officials begging for a change in our gun regulations. I'm not saying that this heinous crime will change anyone's mind but it will make some, at least from the area, listen more closely to what they are preaching.

However, with tragedy comes unity and knowledge. When the towers fell on September 11th, the nation cried out for the red, white and blue and the United States was forever changed. While this tragedy is luckily no where near that magnitude, we pray for Kalamazoo as six funerals so far are being planned. We are wiser for it now, as we were thrown into a reality check that these terrible things are not just happening hundreds of miles away but in our backyards. We will grow from it.

To the families affected know you have an entire county behind you. Praying for you and mourning with you.

To the family of the man who covers our headlines, please know that there are prayers going to you, too. No can imagine the pain you are going through.

From the art hop to the breweries, from a night of music and fun at rib-festto a day of studying on a beautiful campus, a city full of life will shine that light again. Kalamazoo, "You'll be back. We promise."