On Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015, most people are joking about how it’s become the best month of the year and how excited they are to pick out their Halloween costume. But in a small town of 22,000 people in Oregon, the day unfolded rather differently. A shooter was reported on the campus of Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. Ten people were killed and 20 were injured. A CNN military analyst that lives close by reported, “This is so out of character.” The small, close-knit town never saw something like this coming.

We are so sorry. The senseless violence that plagues our society is unfathomable. We do not understand why these things happen. We all know what it feels like to have our world rocked, but not many of us have experienced something of this caliber. Despite that, our hearts go out to you. My chest aches when I picture you crying with your loved ones or crying for those who you have lost. You are in my heart and on my mind, and I know that many people feel the same. We wish that this would never have happened, and we hate that we live in a world where it does.

My hope for you is that you have people to comfort you. I hope that you have hands to hold and shoulders to cry on. I hope that you have time to mourn, but that you can find it in yourself to carry on. To wake up every morning, to get out of bed after something like this? It's hard. We know it’s hard, and we admire you for it. I hope you feel the love and support that surrounds you, and I hope most of all that you can still believe in people.