Mohammad Amin Jebelli

Today is an anniversary of a tragedy that cut short the lives of many promising people with immense potential to do good and improve the world around them.
Among them was a TRP student, a physician, a photographer, and perhaps one of the kindest souls I have ever known.

It was a stupid and avoidable tragedy, and it left the world lesser.

Today, on the anniversary of such senseless death, there is more death. More murder. More tragedy. And the world continues to be worse off for losing people who should not have had to die; people whose potential has not yet been realized—and now will never be.

I cannot say enough about the brutality and evil of such acts and the cost to all of humanity. Nor can I rationalize why such bad things continue to happen. I cannot begin to express the mental and emotional toll such violence has on parents, siblings, friends, communities, and societies. I cannot even put my own pain into words–though I’ve lived with it for years now.

But I believe this: those of us left behind, owe it to the memories of those we’ve lost, never to succumb to the paralyzing helplessness these acts are intended to engender; never to give up hope that those responsible will be held accountable, and never to allow the emptiness created by their absence to grow unchecked.

We who are still here must work to try to build on the potential of those who have been taken, and never give up trying to make the world a better, safer and more peaceful place for everyone to come.

In memory of Amin.