Tragedy & Remembrance

I'm sure by now we are all aware of the tragic school shooting that happened yesterday in  Connecticut. I've had some time to absorb this and to read a lot of articles and other's opinions on this and I have some things I want to get off my chest.

First, I have never cried so hard for people I didn't know as I have been this last day. Even now, as I allow my self to think about it, I'm crying. I just can not imagine what it must be like this morning for all those parents who are waking up (assuming they ever fell asleep) without their little one. My heart literally aches for them.

Now, I'm a little bit disgusted with some members of our human family. Of course, it didn't take long for the gun control issue to be brought up. People tried not to bring it up, but even President Obama couldn't help mentioning it in his speech yesterday. I even read a few passing comments about violence in our media.

So here's what I don't understand. Why are we so busy pointing the finger at all these other issues? Why are we trying so hard to find something or someone else to blame besides the evil Monster that did this?

Because let's face some facts people, this Monster (and yes, that is what I'll be referring to him as, he doesn't deserve to even be called a person) was obviously mentally ill in one way or another. It's safe to assume that he woke up Friday morning and thought, "I'm going to hurt as many people as possible today". You can try to blame the entertainment media for all the violence in movies and music and video games, you can try and blame the availability of guns in this nation, but that does not change the fact that this Monster made a terrible decision and acted it out. He is responsible for his actions.

And I'm sure that as we learn more about the Monster and his history we might find that he was abused by his parents or bullied in school and then we'll blame his parents, or the people who hurt him in any way. But trying to put the blame on everyone and everything besides him doesn't accomplish anything. It doesn't change what he did and it won't bring those 26 people back.

So here's my unprofessional, uneducated opinion. Typically, we get angry to cover up how sad or hurt we are. I believe it is easier for us to talk about gun control than it is to let the sadness and the grieving enter our hearts. We don't want to deal with that sort of pain. It's so much easier to lash out and say, "We'll if he didn't have a gun, if guns were illegal..." or "If video games didn't glorify violence, then this wouldn't have happened". We can play the What If game all day. That doesn't change anything.

And I know some of you are thinking, "But Kristen, if we change some things now, we can prevent something like this from happening in the future". I'm going to lay out a cold hard truth for you, no we can't. If there is a person out there who is determined to hurt another human being, there is very little that can stop them. For instance, I just saw a headline about a man who wounded 22 children in China with a knife.

Now we could go back and forth all day about what that means. But I don't want to because it doesn't matter. There is evil out there in the world and there is very little we can do to completely stop it. And I'm not saying that we should do nothing. Sure there are somethings that can be changed to make us all safer but we all must understand that when a crazy Monster decides to hurt people, he will do it.

So here's my final thoughts. Let us all stop arguing about things that don't matter. Allow your self to grieve for these people, even though you don't know them. Feel sad, cry a little, it's okay. Don't let all this make you angry, those sweet souls who are with their Heavenly Father right now wouldn't want that. We should not let their tragic death be a point of contention between us.

My thoughts and prayers will continue to be with all the people effected by this. If you have children in your life, keep them close today and be kind to them, hell, spoil them a little and be sure to tell them you love them as much as humanly possible.

Thanks for reading. :)

EDIT: Now that we know the names of these victims I wanted to share them. I got this information from CNN.

Charlotte, 6

Daniel, 7

Rachel Davino, 29

Olivia, 6

Josephine, 7

Ana, 6

Dylan, 6

Dawn Hocksprung, 47

Madeleine, 6

Catherine, 6

Chase, 7

Jesse, 6

James, 6

Grace, 7

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack, 6

Noah, 6

Caroline, 6

Jessica, 6

Avielle, 6

Lauren Russeau, 30

Mary Sherlach, 56

Victoria Soto, 27

Benjamin, 6

Allison, 6

I also found this article that talks a little bit about some of the victims. There isn't a ton of information out about the children, which is understandable. As a parent I'm pretty sure I'd have a hard sharing my lost little one with the world right now as well. 

So now that we know their names let us remember them for the rest of this year and for as long as we can. And remember their poor families who have to go through this Christmas season with out their loved one.