Dec 17: Thoughts on the Sandy Hook tragedy
There are several things I should be doing now, but none of them were as important as venting on this horrible event.
This incident has so many aspects, so many things to respond to. The horror for the parents and family members of the fallen, the survivor's guilt, the impact on the community, the loss of innocence for the rest of the children in that school, the empty chairs in the years to come.
My thoughts are primarily with the first responders on scene. The police, and then the paramedics, who went through the areas of carnage, and checked for signs of life in the midst of all the blood; and found none, over and over and over and over..... Their sense of anger, frustration, helplessness which must have recurred more than two dozen times. They will never, ever, ever forget that feeling. It will be with them, permanently. If you don't have a clue what this impact is like, go back and read my May 11 2009 posting. That was just one child. I can't comprehend it being magnified by 20. Fortunately, CISD is much more prevalent and accepted now. But dealing emotionally with the horror doesn't mean you don't remember it--trust me.
Crazy, sadly, will never go away. But the 24 hour constant news coverage will only feed the next insane person's hopes for being immortalized when they take their anger out on the world by butchering innocent people Don't feed the monster.
And then, of course, there is the issue of gun control. Assault weapons are not needed for protecting yourself. To those whose defense of this is 'if bad guys couldn't get them legally they would still find a way': no argument. But the harder you make it, the more it will decrease a person's ability to slaughter large numbers of people in seconds. We won't be able to get all the assault weapons and magazines of bullets out of circulation in one year, two years or even ten, but if they are no longer widely available they will decrease over time. We won't be able to save every person now, but maybe it will make a difference for the next generation, or the one after that.
Lastly, to rephrase the words of my minster during yesterday's sermon: what does it say about us as a nation that we have these horrors over and over: Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, and more: yet do NOTHING to change things?
The definition of insanity to to repeat the same action over and over but expect a different response. Is that not what we as a nation are doing? What is wrong with us?
Please look into thebradycampaign.org and consider a donation.
Thanks for checking in, Laurie
This incident has so many aspects, so many things to respond to. The horror for the parents and family members of the fallen, the survivor's guilt, the impact on the community, the loss of innocence for the rest of the children in that school, the empty chairs in the years to come.
My thoughts are primarily with the first responders on scene. The police, and then the paramedics, who went through the areas of carnage, and checked for signs of life in the midst of all the blood; and found none, over and over and over and over..... Their sense of anger, frustration, helplessness which must have recurred more than two dozen times. They will never, ever, ever forget that feeling. It will be with them, permanently. If you don't have a clue what this impact is like, go back and read my May 11 2009 posting. That was just one child. I can't comprehend it being magnified by 20. Fortunately, CISD is much more prevalent and accepted now. But dealing emotionally with the horror doesn't mean you don't remember it--trust me.
Crazy, sadly, will never go away. But the 24 hour constant news coverage will only feed the next insane person's hopes for being immortalized when they take their anger out on the world by butchering innocent people Don't feed the monster.
And then, of course, there is the issue of gun control. Assault weapons are not needed for protecting yourself. To those whose defense of this is 'if bad guys couldn't get them legally they would still find a way': no argument. But the harder you make it, the more it will decrease a person's ability to slaughter large numbers of people in seconds. We won't be able to get all the assault weapons and magazines of bullets out of circulation in one year, two years or even ten, but if they are no longer widely available they will decrease over time. We won't be able to save every person now, but maybe it will make a difference for the next generation, or the one after that.
Lastly, to rephrase the words of my minster during yesterday's sermon: what does it say about us as a nation that we have these horrors over and over: Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, and more: yet do NOTHING to change things?
The definition of insanity to to repeat the same action over and over but expect a different response. Is that not what we as a nation are doing? What is wrong with us?
Please look into thebradycampaign.org and consider a donation.
Thanks for checking in, Laurie
posted by Laurie @ 9:43 PM
1 Comments:
At 9:52 AM,
Anonymous said…
Very well written Laurie and so accurate about remembering. I still recall the drunk I cared for who killed a friend, Margie (a fellow EMT.)
I was appalled to hear a gun nut say wanting to get rid of assault weapons was like getting rid of cars because drunks kill with them.
I really admire the principal and others who died protecting kids, like the Unitarian usher a few years ago. Thanks Laurie, Bidge
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