Tragedies are by nature difficult to comprehend. Perhaps that’s why people feel such a need to reach out to one another in their aftermath, offering comfort and working toward some semblance of understanding. Although atrocities such as the June 17 massacre of nine people in a historic Charleston, South Carolina, church shake us to our core, it gives us hope to see people coming together online, offering support and sympathy.

In the time since the shooting, we’ve been moved by the hundreds of messages posted in the victims’ Guest Books. Below, we’ve shared a handful of these messages. Some come from friends and family of the victims, others from total strangers, but all voice sadness for the people who died and support for the friends and loved ones left behind.

Messages are written on a storefront remembering the Charleston church shooting victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

AP Photo/David Goldman

 

The love of the church,
and the legacy of those who were killed, will

TRIUMPH
OVER EVIL
The nine who died?
My children will learn their names…
 
– Jimmy
Baltimore, Maryland


You are all in our
THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS
as you struggle to get through these next few
Weeks, Months, Years…
 
– Harriett Whitaker
Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan


We are sad and can
assure you that in France

PEOPLE ARE SHOCKED
and thinking of you all
 
– Frederick & Martine Dulles
Montpellier, France


I hope it can lift your
spirits somewhat, that

MILLIONS OF PEOPLE
grieve with you
 
– Patricia McGahan
Wilmington, North Carolina


I feel
GREAT LOVE
for people I have never met.
 
And I am so proud and inspired by your
DISPLAYS OF LOVE
and its
power in the face of hate
 
– Jean Anderson
Oxford, Mississippi


I am sorry for
your loss,
but awed by your
ATTITUDE
 
– Anonymous


One thing I do know is that
they are with their God right now
and are in a good place
I CAN FEEL IT
 
– Daniel R. Gannon
James Island, South Carolina

 

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