We do not know for sure how everyone is or will be taking the incident at River Valley High School.

We do not know whether comforting statements are sufficient cloaks of protection, or whether 13-year-olds nationwide will return to schools and begin looking very differently at their peers.

There is no enemy. No bogeyman. No gun laws or singular policy to pin this to. None except the larger, amorphous sense that something has gone awry.

We might smudge this away as a nightmare in time to come. But following grief, I hope we learn to renew important conversations surrounding mental health.

I hope this tragedy unites us and births genuine coalition and camaraderie between community partners, government agencies and individuals alike.

I hope that this leads us more into hope than it does fear. That it spurs us into informed, effective action over blind, impassioned outrage.

I hope that as a nation, we concert and clarify a mental wellness road map that both prevents and protects.

Tricia Tan