#WeAreCMU: You Are Loved
BIBLICAL POINT OF REFERENCE:
"No longer shall violence be heard of in your land, or plunder and ruin within your borders. You shall call your walls 'Salvation' and your gates 'Praise.'" ~Isaiah 60:8
Yesterday—March 2, 2018—a tragic incident came to Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan: A student on campus fatally shot his parents. The school and the city of Mt. Pleasant were on lockdown for the rest of the day. Shortly after midnight on March 3rd, the student was apprehended and taken into custody. The story is that the student was not mentally stable, possibly due to drug usage, and that his parents were with him to take him home for Spring Break, which started yesterday as well.
Central Michigan University is where I attend college. Actually, it’s more than a college: it is my home away from home. It is the place I have lived for the last four years, the place I have grown and learned what I want to do after graduating, the place I have made friends, the place I love. And this is the place that was hurt by tragedy.
To the students, staff, faculty, and alumni of Central Michigan University, my heart breaks with you. Our home has been violated by a terrible situation, and we will never be the same. We will never feel the same walking on campus, and we will never look at CMU the same way.
But I want to say, that, despite this tragic incident, CMU is still loved.
Anyone who has ever walked the campus of CMU knows that we are a friendly, compassionate, diverse, and fantastic group of people. We support each other, we learn with each other, and we love each other. An event like this should never happen on any campus, and we never expected it to happen on ours. So yes, we are grieving. We are hurt, we are confused, and we are struggling to cope with everything that has just happened to our home.
I’m no good at politics, nor do I have any interest in delving into the issue of gun violence here. All I’m interested in is remembering to love the place that has been my home for so long now. All we should be doing, as a Chippewa family, is remembering to love each other and to love everyone involved in this tragedy. We are still strong, we are still a community, and we are still in this together as a family. We are CMU.
So let’s take a moment of silence and pray for the parents who died and their son and daughter left behind; let’s offer continuous support for the CMU and Mt. Pleasant community as we struggle to understand what has just happened; and let us remember mercy and forgiveness as we pray for the future of James Eric Davis, Jr.
We love each other, and we stay strong together. I encourage all of you reading to use the hashtag #WeAreCMU on social media to show your support for Central Michigan University today. We are thankful for your prayers and your kind thoughts, and we know that we will remain united in the coming weeks.
God Bless,
Callahan
