Today I am writing with a heavy heart.

I’m sure everyone has heard about the tragedies that have been happening around the country within the past week. A celebrity death and a mass shooting were the most talked about, but among that there was a death in my own community, and these are only a couple of the events in the news. They were all the last things I’d imagine to happen—especially all so close together.

When I woke up last weekend I was immediately informed of the death of music artist and former "The Voice" contestant Christina Grimmie. It showed up quite often on social media, and I had friends talking about it in group chats throughout the day. As time went on the day I was informed of the news, I thought it was amazing how so many people—from followers of her Youtube channel to other music artists—banded together to support the Grimmie family once news broke out to the public. I even read that Adam Levine offered to pay for her funeral. A statement he issued saying, “This is yet another senseless act of violence. I am left stunned and confused how these things can conceivably continue to happen in our world” is something many of us are thinking.

The second thing that was talked about everywhere was the mass shooting in Orlando. This probably isn’t the first time you’ve heard about this, and it surely won’t be the last. Words can’t describe how the entire country felt about this tragic incident. This is the biggest mass shooting in U.S. history, and to me it’s hard to imagine something like this to occur in today’s society. Regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, or anything else, there is no right to disrespect others in any way, for any reason, and it’s way past the time to merely overlook these problems.

The last unfortunate news I found out this week was about a student that I went to middle school and high school with.

I hadn’t known her very well, but I know people who were good friends with her, and it was difficult to have this happen so close to home. It’s unknown how she died, which leads to many questions as to what really happened. As I read through posts on Twitter and Facebook in her honor, saying how she was a great person with a big heart, it made me think about how people should never take for granted what they have, who they are with, and the life they are given, because we don’t know how much longer we have. I hate thinking about it, but it’s true. This incident helped me realize I need to be more appreciative of what I have been given.

Even with the events I didn’t mention, my heart goes out to all who have been impacted by these incidents throughout the country. It saddens me to think of what the U.S. is coming to in terms of what has happened in Orlando, specifically. I really don’t want this article to be full of me drawing attention to the negative issues here, but something needs to be done about the seemingly uncared for or unnoticed problems that have been issues for years. We as a society are better than hating others because we are not all the same, and it’s time people started realizing this.

Through all of the pain and suffering we have all been faced with this week, whether it’s national or right here in Omaha, it’s important to keep a positive attitude and outlook in mind. It’s also important to help out people who need it, share love to everyone, and most certainly pray for healing. There may be a lot of hate in the world, but there are so many ways we can conquer the things that have been happening. We have to start taking action and making changes for the future, and it could start with you.