We Are Carleton and CUT Strong

         It would be contrived to post something that did not acknowledge the events that have shaken me, my friends, teammates, professors, and the entire Carleton, Northfield, and Ultimate communities. Over the last few days, I have witnessed, and I hope contributed to, the largest outpouring of compassion and love that I have seen in my life. Our collective heart is broken. I did not personally know any of the three incredible young men, but I am still feeling grief. I have not gone an hour of waking time in these last few days without thinking about the accident. I have the urge to wrap my arms around all my friends and just embrace for a minute. I found myself doodling the CUT symbol in class today. Because I am mourning too. I am mourning for their families, for their friends, for their lives lost so young, so premature. I am mourning for the random path that the tornado of death takes. 
         Many of my friends are in this same position. We feel grief but we don't, for a second, want people to think that we think we are feeling an equal level of grief to those who knew James, Michael, and Paxton. 
         I want to share something that articulates exactly what so many of us are feeling. It is an excerpt from an incredible post written by Tiiana Booth on the website UltiWorld, a site dedicated to covering the Ultimate community. 

"Then there are those who were not personally touched by the tragedy and simply do not know what to do. They do not want to pretend. They do feel grief but are hesitant to display it because they don’t feel 'enough' of it. They don’t want to be rude; they feel vaguely guilty. This group does not attend the funeral, but they still make time to hang out with each other, day after day." 

         I recommend you read the whole thing here.
         We are CUT Strong. We are Carleton Strong.
         Love.