Hockey's darkest day

The impact of the horrific crash of a Yak-42 jetliner on takeoff from the Russian city of Yaroslavl is just now sinking in. Virtually an entire team, Lokomotiv, has been killed. The hockey world there and here is in shock, as the victims list included a number of former NHL players. In this interconnected age, the ripples travel far and wide.

There's no way to undo tragedy, no way to bring back what's irrevocably gone or fill the incalculably huge hole that results. I often lament the lameness of mere words at times like this, because they don't seem to tangibly change the fact that a plane fell from the sky and countless lives were either ended or forever altered.

But words are all I've got right about now, and those shared by a Brazilian author (who's inspired me previously) seem tailor-made to the way I'm thinking right about now:

"Tragedies do happen. We can discover the reason, blame others, imagine how different our lives would be had they not occurred. But none of that is important: they did occur, and so be it. From there onward we must put aside the fear that they awoke in us and begin to rebuild."
Paulo Coelho