Jessica Ghawi's story is one of the most touching and tragic. In what would be her final blog post she recounts her experience at the Eaton Center shooting that occurred in Toronto in early June. She was there! She was in the same building building as the shooter last month, and she was in that theater in Colorado Thursday night.
The insane improbability of her being involved in both random acts of violence is mind blowing. Two separate cities in two separate countries, and both times she was at the exact location where some crazy person pulled out a gun and started shooting. I can't even fathom it.
I feel like I need to print out these couple paragraphs from her June blog post and read them every morning as soon as I wake up.
I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders’ faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath. For one man, it was in the middle of a busy food court on a Saturday evening.
I say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing. So often I have found myself taking it for granted. Every hug from a family member. Every laugh we share with friends. Even the times of solitude are all blessings. Every second of every day is a gift. After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given.
➡ Jessica Redfield's blog