December 15, 2012
I Tried to Find The Words… But I Came Up Empty
Sometimes something happens, and you have to step back, hug your family, and wipe your tears before you can even think about what’s going on. Yesterday, someone went into an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and shot twenty kids and seven adults.
Just looking at the words I’ve written, I can’t even believe it. There’s something almost unbelievable about the fact that someone could do that to anyone, let alone five-year-olds. We think about the impact of the Wizard Wars on Hogwarts kids, but what if someone went in and devastated a group of magical little kids? It’s unfathomable. It’s horrific. I was crying almost all day. The Governor of Connecticut was in Newton comforting the families of those affected by the tragedy, and the President gave a speech to the country, struggling to hold back his tears.
I was at home with bronchitis, so I was able to watch things unfold on TV as well as through Twitter. Really, it’s even more painful to watch the commentators on TV trying to understand how something like this could happen in a small town like Newtown. I’ve never been to that part of my state, but people have said it’s one of the safest, most idyllic places in the state. People move there to get away from everything, but it seems that the nastiness came to even that small town.
I tried to write this all day yesterday. I’ve been trying to sort out my own feelings, as well as processing the rage and calls to action that I’ve been seeing around the internet. Action is good. We need to make our world a better place, we need to try to ensure that this doesn’t happen again, and that our kids are safe. However, there is a time for that, and it isn’t today. We’re all too raw. We all have a bit of ourselves ripped out, because we’re all one people. We’re all part of the community of the world. Today is the time to reach out to people and remind them that we love them.
To quote the president:
This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter and we’ll tell them that we love them, and we’ll remind each other how deeply we love one another.
Tomorrow, we can take a deep breath, roll up our sleeves, and move on, but today, just for now, let’s light a candle for the victims, wipe each others’ tears, and hug those we care about. I want to hug each and every one of you and remind you how much I care for you. Even if we’ve never spoken, even if I don’t know you, I love you. Hang on to that. It’s hard to come by right now.
Meghan W
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I also live in CT, about an hour away from Newtown, and I’m still having an impossible time trying to wrap my head around what’s happened. One of my best friends’s cousins was in the school at the time, but was thankfully not hurt… another was not as lucky. I hate to say this, but it’s one thing for a tragedy like this to happen in another part of the country, and another for it to happen so close to home. I have a number of friends that live in Newtown, and I’m not looking forward to the inevitable news that some of their neighbors, friends, and even family members have been lost because of such a terrible man. My thoughts are going out to all of those affected.