Many people are superstitious about Friday the 13th, and sadly, this year the feelings of unease were grounded.

In at least six coordinated attacks around Paris, terrorists took hostages at a concert, shot patrons at several restaurants and detonated suicide bombs at many locations around the city.

At the latest count, the death toll had risen to 132, making the “night of terror” the country’s deadliest happening since World War II.

Paris went into lock-down, and all of France’s borders were immediately closed.

In response, the colors of the French flag lit up national landmarks around the globe, and social media has turned into a sea of blue, white and red as people change their profile pictures in support.

But what about the funeral bombing in Baghdad? Or the suicide bombing in Beirut?

And how about the earthquakes in Mexico and Japan?

These stories may sound unfamiliar, as they have barely received any media attention, yet people affected by them  are hurting.

Worse still, what about the massive, unending flow of Syrian refugees?

These fleeing people, having just made it to relative safety in Europe, will now be turned away and treated with even more hostility and suspicion by the very countries that promised to welcome them just a few days ago.

As the holiday season is nearly in full swing here, students are getting ready to go home and to be surrounded by family.

But we at The Collegian urge the student body to take time to remember not only those who have been hurt in the attacks, but also those who have been displaced by the continually raging violence in the Middle East.

Remember those who do not have a home to return to and no real hope of having one in the near future.

Just because the media and Facebook are focusing on one horrific story, don’t forget about the other stories that do not get told.

Don’t get carried away by whatever trend is rocking the social media realm (whether it’s red cups, politics or a cat video) and ignore the bigger story of a hurting world.

Don’t allow your compassion to end with that colorful profile picture and a catchy hashtag; instead, work to show Christ’s love to the world.

Find a charity sending packages to help the refugee familes, or even just help at a soup kitchen over break.

Yes, go ahead and change that profile picture; use  the hashtags #prayforParis and #prayfortheworld; but remember to actually do that praying.

Put feet to that compassion  and make the difference.