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On the morning of the horrific Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting, I awoke at 3 a.m. to a text alert on my phone from The Denver Post. Within hours the tragedy hit the Colorado community like an earthquake, its psychological seismic waves radiating across the country.

In the aftershocks of the following days, I felt ungrounded, filled with a deep uneasiness about mortality, fate and the undeniable power of one person to do irreparable damage. And I found myself carrying the pain of strangers, not knowing where to put the uncomfortable weight nor for whom I was holding it. Sharing grief at a distance cannot lessen the unspeakably heavy burden that will haunt the victims’ families for the rest of their lives.

I found solace working on this magazine filled with Forever Buffs who have seized every opportunity to do invaluable, lasting good. Scott Carpenter (Aero’49, HonDocSci’00) risked his life to travel in space to broaden our knowledge of the unknown [pages 6-11]. Loretta Ford (Nurs’49, MS’51, EdD’61, HonDocSci’97) pioneered the nurse practitioner movement, providing critical health care to thousands [pages 28-31].

Take heed and continue CU-Boulder’s wide-reaching legacy in your fleeting interactions with strangers, in your workplace and with your friends and family. Collectively we, as 280,000 Forever Buffs, have a power of extraordinary magnitude to leave this world a better place.