5 children were killed: a kindergartner, a first-grader and three fourth-grade students.

Together, we can heal.

I'm surrounded by super-fit bodies in athletic gear as I drive over the Walnut Street Bridge for a local program on a global topic -- the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). For a third year, the Ironman endurance event transforms the Scenic City of Chattanooga, the smallest of the major cities in Tennessee.

The attendees at the International Business Council (IBC) of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce were a diverse mix of nationalities, professions, expats, and industries. The annual meeting of the IBC, the Chamber's newest council, attracted students, family members, colleagues, and executives.

Interfaith services following tragedies like the one in Chattanooga are increasingly common place in the American landscape. These memorial services were held after the shootings in Charleston's church and Orlando's gay nightclub.