The Skillman Foundation

Once again, the unimaginable.

Phones lit up last night as news reports and social media channels began reporting shots fired at Michigan State University. Homes across Michigan and beyond fell silent – only the sound of prayers and the constant refreshing of our feeds as we waited breathlessly for news of safety for our youth.

This morning did you sit your child down as you made her lunch to explain that once again the unimaginable happened?

Did you have to tell her that whatever she feels—or at this point doesn’t feel, numb from the repetitiveness of this horror—is all okay to feel?

Did you forecast a groundswell of cries to stop this gun violence from flooding our communities and our places of study and worship, all to fall on deaf ears when the time comes to act?

Once again, the unimaginable. The irony of this sentence pairs perfectly with the fact that the sun is shining on Valentine’s Day.

Our hearts are red and open.

Holding each other in them.

Relentless in our need to heal and help. To bring new imaginations to light. We rise for ourselves and others.