Ft. Hood Massacre and the Consistent Themes

I'm really at a loss on the Ft. Hood massacre. We're going to learn a lot in the next couple of days, but some very consisten themes stand out:

• A violent man commits a heinous act that was, at least partly, driven by his religion. Despicable.
• The actions of the victims and the first responders reflect that which is uniquely American - we're a nation that is made up of common folks that routinely engage in uncommon actions when faced with disasters; natural, man-made, or otherwise.

What heartens me is that the latter far outweighs the prior. While some don't like to admit it, that's part of our American Exceptionalism, folks. We are different, and we are better.

In the days to come, we'll find out a lot more. But in the mean time, the fact that this piece of human excrement is still alive goes a long way in terms of telling the story of who we are as a country and what we hold dear.

For now, we pray for those killed and impacted, we roll up our sleeves, and we go back to work.

Like we always do.