What to Say?

It's weird to see so many blogs posting about the holidays, running, road trips, whatever, just like life goes on as normal.  Yesterday was just so sad.  I don't know anyone touched by the tragedy in Connecticut, but it hurts my heart.  I appreciated the blogs I read that addressed it -- maybe I should broaden my reading horizons a bit. 

I was working from home yesterday, so I saw a lot of the news coverage.  For a while, I even watched RAI, the Italian news -- it was so unusual.  They were showing a US news network (I believe it was Headline News) and doing simultaneous translation of everything that was said, and it was live.  Impressive translation!  And just interesting that they went to complete coverage of it. 

I don't know what the answer is.  So many people seem to say follow the Constitution and don't do anything to regulate guns, but at the same time, ignore the Constitution and force religion into the schools. 

I do tend to agree that if people want to kill others and have no regard for their own lives, it will be hard to stop them. 

But I'm definitely not a gun person.  I so hate the idea of shooting at anything living, it seems like one of the most awful things you can do -- killing a person or an animal.  And I believe the statistics about how guns purchased in hopes of self-defense often don't work out that way -- the gun-owner occasionally uses it rashly, but often becomes a victim himself (or herself, as I guess was the case in Connecticut). 

I just wish it wouldn't happen.  I wish everyone who needed mental health care would get it.  I have learned sadly by encountering situations in a professional setting where you see it happen that when someone victimizes a child, that child often grows up to become a victimizer.  It's a sad cycle.  I obviously have no idea if that's relevant to what happened yesterday, but it's more to the point that there is no easy solution. 

It just makes me sad.  When I lost my sister more than a decade ago, I saw what my folks went through -- parents losing a child is so hard.  I hope the families affected make it through intact with lots of support and love, but it will be a hard road for them.  I would say unimaginable, but obviously many people know parents who have lost a child, sometimes a young child through a tragedy.  It's something no one should ever have to deal with. 

As an aside, I was a little insulted by the President's comments about the shooting -- talking about how it pained all parents in the country.  Apparently if you're not a parent, it was no big deal?  Because apparently you don't know love if you don't have kids?  WTH?