Our collective hearts were broken on April 16 by another horrific and senseless tragedy with the massacre of innocent souls at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. For me, this tragedy brought back the horror of losing my son Tariq 12 years ago at the hands of Tony, a 14-year-old gang member.

In my tragedy I saw that there were victims at both ends of the gun, and sadly I see the same circumstances here all over again. The 32 innocent human beings: victims of a much maligned Cho Seung-Hui. And Cho: a victim of American society, a society that increasingly is creating wounded individuals as a result of a variety of unresolved and unaddressed issues in our culture. The questions we must ask: "When will we ever learn?" and "How many more Chos are walking around in our schools and universities today?"

First, my heart goes out to the parents of the deceased. I can feel their pain and have held them in my prayers and meditations ever since the time the tragedy hit us. I pray that God gives them the strength to bear their loss and the strength to continue their lives and heal from the tragic loss. It is very difficult to deal with the loss of a child – this I do know. Parents simply are not engineered to withstand the loss of a child.

My prayer is that from this tragic incident something good and positive can ultimately arise. This potential does exist if we make the right choice. My experience has shown that in such tragedies, when you are able to make a higher-minded choice, you can manifest transformation and even help create a miracle.

While we as a nation are in shock and grieving over national tragedies, we must also take time to be introspective and look within to see what we have individually done to create a society that is consistently producing angry and violent behavior. I simply see that violence is a learned behavior – no one is born violent. Cho was not either! So it was societal forces that, over the years, contributed to a rage which finally erupted in this massacre.

Could this have been avoided? I believe yes. If violence is a learned behavior, it follows that nonviolence can also be a learned behavior. But who teaches nonviolence in our culture? The Tariq Khamisa Foundation does and does it successfully, providing viable skills for the practice of peace. However - the need to teach nonviolence and peacemaking MUST IMMEDIATELY BECOME a national priority. We must provide funding within our education budgets for programs like TKF to be present in every classroom throughout not only the country but the world.

We can win this challenge if we collectively have the national will – which is a renewable resource – to rise up and demand that programs like TKF are made part of the mainline curriculum. We simply must not ignore this wake-up call. It is very difficult for our children and youth to grow up in the violent world in which they often find themselves.

Why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars for war on foreign soil or conquering outer space when every single day in our own backyards our defenseless children are being wiped out in a frenzy of bizarre violence? Does this make any sense to you? What could we do with these billions for our schools, children and youth? It is time to rise up and demand that we make the eradication of violence in America our first priority! What happens in the USA eventually happens in the world. We are by far the most violent first-world country in the world. Last year, there were 40 homicides in England, with a population of 53 million. In New York alone, with 8 million people, there were 580 homicides.

Need I say more? As a major superpower we have an awesome responsibility - to be an exemplary role model of a peaceful, nonviolent, benevolent society. A society that is committed to creating a world that works for everyone. I believe we can do this – what is lacking is the national will. We are the national will! Please let us not wait for another tragedy! Please join us.

Contact TKF at http://www.tkf.org/to see how you can get involved with the foundation.

Research www.AzimKhamisa.com to help me get my message out through my book, Forgiveness Series CDs and personal appearances.

Many Blessings,
Azim N. Khamisa