On Friday, December 15, 2012, our nation experienced a tragedy none of us would ever have fathomed. A young man who I will not give the benefit of naming here walked into an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and killed 20 innocent children and 6 adults. This is to me, not only as a mother, but as a human being, unimaginable.
In my opinion, calling him a "man" is giving him a lot of credit. What kind of man kills 6 year-olds? That is no man for sure. But I have to stop and realize that he was someone's child as well. I have to remind myself that at one time, he was someone's joy and blessing. What happened to him then to cause it to go so horribly wrong? I have no idea. We may never know what happened to cause this, and even if we do find out, it won't bring these 26 people back to us.
Why does this keep happening in our country? I don't have the answers to that. All I do know is that something has to be fixed. Either we need to realize that we do have people in this country that are victims of mental illnesses and that they cannot afford the proper care that they require so we need to work on the healthcare system; or we need to start protecting our schools to keep this from happening in the future; or we need to add in some regulations to our gun laws to make it harder to obtain firearms.
Which one would you be willing to work on?
I personally know parents that have children who are prisoners to mental illnesses that can't afford the treatments they need. I also personally believe that an amendment that was written in 1791 needs to be revisited and applied to the world as we know it in 2012. I firmly believe that no citizen should own an assault rifle. My husband and his family would not agree with me. But I believe only the police and the military should have access to those kinds of weapons.
Nevertheless, none of this changes the situation. On Friday, we lost 26 wonderful souls. No, I didn't know a single one of them but I am sure from what I have read about them that my assessment is not written in vain. We need to remember these people, we need to grieve for them and pray for their families.
We need to pray for us, as well.
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