Tragedy in Santa Maria

Many of us in the United States were saddened to read about the nightclub fire in Santa Maria that took the lives of, at this writing, 237 Brazilians, mostly young people.  Many of the horrific details, including the barricades set up to prevent people from entering without paying, reminded me a lot of the fire -- many years ago by now -- in the Happy Land social club that claimed the lives of 87 people in the Bronx.  Brazil's tragedy was on a much larger scale, however, and coming as it does so close to Carnaval, triggered a three-day national period of mourning.  Facebook was also immediately filled with exhortations, such as this one, to respect the victims by not posting pictures of the dead or injured.

There will be many calls to honor the memory of those killed by enacting better nightclub regulations, to limit overcrowding, to have lit exit signs, etc.  Those are good things to have in place and worth fighting for.  Celebrating life is another good means of doing so.  The victims were nighttime revelers out celebrating, to move their bodies, to enjoy each other's company, and share the pure joy of being alive.  Let this tragedy heighten our appreciation for the preciousness and fragility of life and love!