Ah, it's a hard world, isn't it?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As Salaamu Alaikum and hello all. \u00a0It is Thursday morning. \u00a0Yesterday was a tough day for anyone living in the Commonwealth of Virginia. \u00a0I mean, it's\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/2015\/08\/ah-its-a-hard-world-isnt-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ah, it's a hard world, isn't it?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As Salaamu Alaikum and hello all. \u00a0It is Thursday morning. \u00a0Yesterday was a tough day for anyone living in the Commonwealth of Virginia. \u00a0I mean, it's\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/2015\/08\/ah-its-a-hard-world-isnt-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Muslimah in Progress\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-27T14:57:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nancy Qualls-Shehata\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nancy Qualls-Shehata\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/2015\/08\/ah-its-a-hard-world-isnt-it.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/2015\/08\/ah-its-a-hard-world-isnt-it.html\",\"name\":\"Ah, it's a hard world, isn't it?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-27T14:57:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-08-27T14:57:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/#\/schema\/person\/6218cbef696f8f6c933831dfcc2096b9\"},\"description\":\"As Salaamu Alaikum and hello all. \u00a0It is Thursday morning. \u00a0Yesterday was a tough day for anyone living in the Commonwealth of Virginia. \u00a0I mean, it's\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/2015\/08\/ah-its-a-hard-world-isnt-it.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/2015\/08\/ah-its-a-hard-world-isnt-it.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/2015\/08\/ah-its-a-hard-world-isnt-it.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ah, it’s a hard world, isn’t it?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/\",\"name\":\"Muslimah in Progress\",\"description\":\"I'm an American Muslimah of a certain age with some pretty strong opinions. 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{"id":613,"date":"2015-08-27T10:57:10","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T14:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/?p=613"},"modified":"2015-08-27T10:57:10","modified_gmt":"2015-08-27T14:57:10","slug":"ah-its-a-hard-world-isnt-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/muslimahinprogress\/2015\/08\/ah-its-a-hard-world-isnt-it.html","title":{"rendered":"Ah, it’s a hard world, isn’t it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Two people murdered in the most callous way possible, another seriously injured. \u00a0The gunman fled, then dead. \u00a0A rambling manifesto giving an unwanted glimpse into a disturbed mind. \u00a0Shocked coworkers. \u00a0Devastated loved ones. \u00a0A memorial gathering. \u00a0Candles and flowers. \u00a0Tears and anger.<\/p>\n

The worst thing about this is not that it happened on live TV. \u00a0It\u2019s not that the killer himself filmed the shooting and uploaded to social media. \u00a0It\u2019s not that these people were beloved members of their profession and community. \u00a0The worst thing about it is that\u00a0it happened again.<\/em> \u00a0It happened again. \u00a0A disturbed person bought a gun and killed people for no rational reason. \u00a0And I could have written that sentence last week, or the week before, or the week before that.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what to do. \u00a0I don\u2019t know the answer. \u00a0I don\u2019t know what club to apply to\u00a0or what online support group to join. \u00a0What article to write. \u00a0What comfort to give.<\/p>\n

I can only keep doing what I am doing. \u00a0Pray, asking Allah to protect my kids. \u00a0Try to raise them to be good Muslims and good citizens. \u00a0Share information about mental illness so we can erase the stigma associated with it. \u00a0Love my neighbor. \u00a0Smile. \u00a0Stop and smell the roses. \u00a0Share cute kitten pictures on Facebook. \u00a0Live. \u00a0Pray for a hiatus in the violence. \u00a0Delete the news app on my phone.<\/p>\n

Wait for the next time.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"