No meatloaf, just perspective

Just didn't feel right posting anything light-hearted. Maybe that sounds hypocritical given that I've been posting stuff about bowl prep and such. I don't know.

But I do know that we continue to learn more about ourselves each day. And I mean that as individuals and the collective "we". I continue to love all people that I share this Earth with, whether they vote the way I do, wear orange, call Coca-Cola "pop", are mentally ill, left-handed, dark skinned, bald, want to ban the guns we own, don't know what grits are, treat yield signs as stop signs, or feed into sensationalist media. I love you all.

via My Sandy Hook Family Fund

But Friday broke me down. It shook my faith as well as my ability as a parent. As you read this my kids are going about their school day as if it was just another ordinary day, yet they are doing so after their mother and I had to expose them to something as evil and vile as we had ever seen.

Yes, I love you all but sometimes you piss me the hell off. Just driving to work this morning I saw news vans ready to roll film outside of elementary schools; so focused on getting some story for their producer rather than thinking for one moment how that is affecting the little lives they are putting in front of the camera, or their parents' frame of mind as they drop their children off.

I'm shaken but not shattered. Which makes me a lot like you I'm sure. Even though I wish it had never needed to be told, I take heart in stories like Vicki Soto's. She went to Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday morning to teach her first graders about reading and writing. Instead they learned what courage looks like as she hid them in cabinets and closets before being gunned down herself. That's something that's not taught in any undergraduate course or internship, yet Ms. Soto found it within herself to do what was needed to save lives. Amazing.

Together let's agree to a couple things. Let's agree not to give credence to people and organizations using the dead bodies inside that schoolhouse to further their political agenda. Regardless of our own feelings and leanings, that simply is not right. And most importantly, let's agree to do something special for a child every day that we can, but today of all days. Kids need to know that life can be scary, but that people are good and will do whatever they can to protect them from it when necessary. Even if it means looking evil in the face like Ms. Soto did.

The greatest measure of courage comes when it is faced despite the fear of doing so. And it is with that thought that we should take the next step forward.


I've made a donation on our behalf to help the healing in Newtown. I encourage you to do the same Reader.