Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.

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My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the victims in the Colorado shooting during the midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises last night that left 12 people dead and 58 injured. I hope the people reported missing have now been found safe.

What went in to the mind of this deranged man who thought he could just go into a shooting spree and end other people's hopes and dreams? Murder. There is no crime more foul. What a heartbreaking and senseless tragedy. It makes me so sad and angry that this happens in a supposedly civilized society.

The thing that particularly resonated with me is the death of Jessica Ghawi. I didn't know her personally - until today I have never even heard about her. But what struck me is the fact that she narrowly escaped another mass shooting at Eaton Mall in Canada just a month ago. Here is an excerpt from her blog:

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.

I feel like I am overreacting about what I experienced. But I can’t help but be thankful for whatever caused me to make the choices that I made that day. My mind keeps replaying what I saw over in my head. I hope the victims make a full recovery. I wish I could shake this odd feeling from my chest. The feeling that’s reminding me how blessed I am. The same feeling that made me leave the Eaton Center. The feeling that may have potentially saved my life.

I don't mean to cheapen her death in any way but I couldn't help but think morbidly of the Final Destination movies after reading the news piece about her. To think that she was even tweeting excitedly about seeing the movie around twenty minutes before the movie. Heartbreaking. If anything, this reminds us all that life really is so fragile. Make each moment count.

The premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Paris has now been cancelled in light of this tragedy, and there are even talks of stopping the screening in some cinemas. The Dark Knight Rises is an excellent movie, and I hope the memory of this abomination does not mar it because a man took it upon him to play god and take innocent lives.

Christopher Nolan said, "I would like to express our profound sorrow at the senseless tragedy that has befallen the entire Aurora community. I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime. The movie theatre is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me."

I am glad that James Holmes was caught before he turned his guns on himself like other murder-suicide cowards do. This offers little comfort to those who lost their loved ones, but I really pray justice is served. May you all rest in peace.

*Post title is one of my favorite lines from Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. It is the line Thomas Wayne told the young Bruce after saving him from a well, and the same line Alfred reminded him when he was already an adult.