Jacqueline Keavney Lader and Don Lader survived the Aurora shooting. But the day after, the military couple did something courageous: They returned to an area theater to finish watching the latest Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.
The couple write about their experience for The Daily Beast today. The essay is worth a read, so we encourage to click over.
Meanwhile, we'll leave you with just a bit of their thinking:
"Don and I had decided that it was vitally important to go back as soon as possible to the movie theater and finish watching The Dark Knight Rises. The shooter's intent was to cause fear, injury, and death. We escaped injury and death. Whether it was due to luck, fate, our military training, or all three, we'll never know. But we both refuse to let fear consume us. We refuse to allow this one madman to injure our minds and spirits the way he tried to injure our bodies. If we let fear overtake us and prevent us from living bold, authentic lives, the shooter—and other murderers like him — wins."
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