Bad things happen to everyone. Sometimes it's something beyond our control and other times it's because of our own actions. Regardless of what those bad things are or what the cause might be, we tend to have two choices. We can do nothing about it or we can step up and try to use what we learned to better the world.

Of course, some people try that and end up working to make the world worse, but that's a different problem.

This whole thing was sparked by a story involving a young child who shot and killed himself with an unsecured gun. The family is now saying they want to help spread the gun safety message.

Dozens of family members stood next to 3-year-old Qylon Thompson's grave. They held blue balloons and released them to a chorus of "I love you, Qylon."

His mother, Taina Haggan, wiped tears from her face as she recorded the balloons drifting across the sky.

Thompson died May 24 after he accidentally shot himself. Haggan said she cries every night without her son. The loss is something that is difficult to put into words. “It’s like a feeling that you really can’t explain," Haggan said.

The family he leaves behind is now dedicated to spreading awareness about gun safety. At the balloon release, Haggan urged parents to always double check weapons and to keep them secure. “You can never be too careful," she said.

Now, I'm not going to lie. My first thought was, "It's a little late now, isn't it?" To be honest, yeah, it kind of is. If they'd embraced proper gun safety procedures, including securing guns not in use, this tragedy wouldn't have happened.

But that's being uncharitable. It's true, but sometimes, people haven't really learned what they should and shouldn't do. It seems clear that Thompson's family didn't learn the ins and outs of owning a firearm and keeping it safely in a house with young children. They lacked the education that many of us received.

Rather than screaming about the evils of guns, though, or trying to blame the law for what happened, they seem to be accepting that they made the mistake and are taking on a role to hopefully prevent future tragedies such as this by educating people. 

That's commendable.

Oh, I absolutely wish they never experienced what they did, but they're trying to turn this awful event into something positive in the world, and that's not easy.

My sincere hope is that they continue with this. I hope they don't just pay lip service to this in the here and now and instead step into the role they say they want and become outspoken advocates for gun safety practices. As the pain backs off, it would be easy to back of on their stated desire to spread gun safety awareness. I pray they don't.

Tragedy falls into all of our lives. We can't help that.

What we can do is learn from it and maybe help others learn from it too, if possible. Sometimes it's not, but when it is, I think it's imperative to do so. Good on these folks for trying.