My beloved home state has experienced its’ third mass shooting in less than 15 years. This morning, a stupid, selfish and insane thing happened inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in bucolic Newtown, Connecticut. One or more men came into the school and opened fire in the hallways and classrooms. I don’t know the total numbers of fatalities – one is too many – but reports are counting them well into double digits. Many of them are going to be children, little tiny children. The school teaches grades k – 4, so these small students are no more than 9 or 10 years old. The media are reporting that the school may have also lost their principal and a school nurse. I fear that the totality of this will be staggering, perhaps one of the worst our country has ever known.
I don’t have to tell you how painful a story like this can be. It’s the kind of thing that your mind can’t readily take in, never mind understand. I’m writing this now, blinking back tears and with the heaviest heart. It’s unknown, at this moment, whether there was more than one shooter, but at least one of the killers is, himself, dead. I don’t want to know what his motive is, and I don’t even care. Nothing can explain this tragedy that will make any sense or sound reasonable. I don’t want to hear how this is a gun issue and that we should reexamine the 2nd Amendment. I’ve been around long enough and seen too many examples of how humans can abuse just about anything to believe that this happened only because we can own guns. Give someone a pain-killer and they might become an addict. Provide access to the internet and there will be someone who will hack information and steal everything from and about you. Build a MacDonald’s and people will eat their way into a boatload of problems. So when these types of things, these mass murders, are called senseless acts, that’s exactly right. It’s not about guns. It’s about insanity and hatred and a mindset that doesn’t make any sense. If you’re hell-bent on killing someone, all of the laws in the world aren’t going to stop you.
If you want to do something, then tell your lawmakers that there are some folks out there, standing on a ledge and just waiting for the moment when they’re ready to jump, who need help with their issues. If your neighbor or friend or family member is exhibiting behaviors that don’t seem right to you, say something. You won’t be considered a busybody and you just might save someone’s life. Given the fact that the shooter or shooters were granted access to the school, I’m going to venture a guess that this was somehow a domestic or employment problem, and I can’t accept that no one saw something ominous or foreboding well before this tragedy happened.
For right now, though, stop and offer a prayer for all of those children and educators whose stockings are still hanging from the fireplace mantle and whose presents are under the family Christmas trees, never to be opened.
Bless all of you, my friends, Empress
realhousewifeofaiken 
Such a terrible tragedy. It’s so hard to express the shock and anger I feel right now, but Empress you’ve said it well. . My heart goes out to each and everyone affected by this senseless crime and I am praying for them all. When will this madness end?
I hope the police shot the sick bastard and he didnt have the choice to shoot himself…This is all just so sad..
The police never fired one shot, which is just as well. Even when they’re in the right and it’s determined to be a “good shoot”, no cop wants to live with having killed anyone.
Empress, I don’t want to hear about guns either & no motive matters to me as well. Very well said very quickly. DD enrolled in The Gunnery in Washington CT right after 9-11. Fearing another attack & going to war it made that choice so much harder. Now, she is on her way to Lansing. Her view is the State Building in the middle of the union protesters. All I think about is the stress up there & the one person waiting to do something like today. I will pray for the hearts that are broken & I will pray no other parent has to feel this pain. Thank you for every post, Lisa
You’re very welcome, Lisa Renee. My best to you and my FFA (favorite future attorney).
Thank you for being a voice of reason in this tragedy. My thoughts and prayers are with family and friends of the victims, but most especially those precious souls that witnessed such a heartless act upon their little friends.
This is aweful!
The nut jobs Repugnants in Lansing were in the process of passing a bill that would allow concealed weapons in Churches, Schools, and public arenas. Because of what happened today he is going to delay signing (I feel he will sign it and not say anything) I am not against guns, I used to target on bullseye targets.
This is another school of thought http://www.naturalnews.com/038353_gun_control_psychiatric_drugs_Adam_Lanza.html
ROFLMAO shoot on bullseye targets.
I wish that instead of 90% of our useless goverment programs we invested in free mental health care for anyone who wanted it. I am not against forcing it onto certain people either.
Thank you Empress, for expressing what most likely are my own view of the surrounding issues. You simply stated it a lot better than I might have.
RIP to all of them in Newberry, CT.
I just wanted to ask one more little favor – that while you’re offering up some prayers for those tiny angels and their wonderful teachers, say one for the first responders. I can honestly tell you that there is no amount of training or experience that prepares them for what they faced today. Their lives and the lives of their families will be changed forever, as well.
I also have a comment about the epic failure by each and every news reporter who just seemed to make up shit all day and didn’t care whether there was an ounce of truth to any of it. Not only did they try to make breaking news out of rumor and innuendo, they sunk low enough to interview some of the children who survived the assault on the school. I came across this tweet today and thought it was a perfect response to these irresponsible asshats:
Art! @artayd2
14 Dec 12
Good friend of mine lives < 10 minutes from Sandy Hook Elementary and has a daughter in kindergarten. Trying to get a hold of him. #newtown
Nadine Shubailat @NadineatABC
@artayd2 can we talk to your friend who lives in Sandy Hook and whose daughter goes to kindergarten? I'm w ABC News nadine.shubailat@abc.com
Art! @artayd2
@NadineatABC eat a dick.
Whoever Art is, I love him.
Me too. 😉
HA! You Go Art! Name for me please, one time, the news media has been worth even that response in the first hours of anything that happens?
Oh my. They got it so wrong on so many levels today – okay, most days.
Im so glad I came over here to read this-
I love Art …very much. His response was perfect.
God bless those babies and their poor families.
Morning Empress, I say prayers for our first responders & their families every day. They rushed into that school, not surround it, no re-con, no snipers set-up. The only fact they had was there was a gunman in this school & they ran in, blindly. Their actions yesterday were not lost on me. Those who saw this carnage will never be the same. I was blown back by the children being interviewed on TV with in 2 hours of this shooting. I really wanted to smack one child’s mother for allowing it. I don’t know if this mom would have felt it as it appeared to me she was too enamored with the camera to notice her child was IMO shell shocked. Art said it best! Thanks for adding it, Lisa
It never ceases to amaze me how many people are willing to step in front of a camera and give interviews in the middle of a tragedy.
I’d also like to thank you for recognizing what those police officers and State troopers did, putting their own safety on the back burner to try to save little children.
As for my Twitter hero, I wish we could find Art and buy him a few rounds. 😉
Bravo Empress on a truly awesome post (and your comment about news reporters)!!! This is beyond a horrific tragedy. Senseless is exactly right.
“If your neighbor or friend or family member is exhibiting behaviors that don’t seem right to you, say something. You won’t be considered a busybody and you just might save someone’s life.”
I couldn’t agree more with this above quote!!!!!!! Mental health issues are not to be taken lightly or tip-toed around – it needs to be dealt with.
What a horrible day.
Excellent post, Empress.
Mental health awareness and treatment need to be given much more attention in this country. Guns are not the problem. I saw a statistic from the FBI today that said there are 310 million people in the USA and 285 million guns – that they know about. It’s fairly unrealistic to think those will all go away and they are the very thing that is typically used to protect us.
May God bless those affected by this incomprehensible tragedy.
This non-violent Michigander at this time I am beyond angry and am keeping a very tight rein on my emotions to keep from exploding. There is so many thoughts swirilng in my head at the injustices of the Corporations that have taken control of our country. Don’t worry when I explode it is with words,
If you feel the need to explode, Donna, the door is always open here. A lot of us are just as angry and sad and frustrated.
Morning Empress. Such a heavy heart this morning. With some anger and frustration in it too, but more so a burning desire to DO something. At the moment, all I have are words, so I wrote a post over at my place. I wanted to invite you over to read it, and share it where you will if you see fit.
Wrapping loving thoughts around…oh, just Everybody today! (((((HUGS)))))
P.S. I love your blog too. Thank you for sharing your eloquent thoughts. (((((Empress)))))
Morning MarDrag, I actually read it last night, probably just a few minutes after you posted it. There isn’t anything I could’ve added – you said it about as well as it could be said. I’m putting the link here, to share it with some more folks. (((MarDrag)))
http://fromthedeskofmardrag.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/a-message-and-a-plea/
Thank you Empress. That means a great deal coming from you! I just had to do/say something….feeling so helpless. Thanks for posting the link!
(((((Empress)))))
That’s one of the good things about having a blog. When I get stressed out, I have a few things I can do to relieve some of that stress – I can spend time with the horses and dogs, but it was too cold for me yesterday to go outside. I can play my piano, but the Christmas carols that are sitting there right now didn’t seem appropriate under the circumstances. So, I write a post that lets me express my feelings and gives others a place to talk about how they’re coping with things. It’s not a bad outlet at all.
I relate! I had things/could have done things yesterday…but it all seemed meaningless at the moment. I had to get the words out, and am fortunate to have the place to do it and the wonderful people, like you, who come to read, that I can share it with.
I sometimes need to “lean” too. Thanks for being there as a “post”. 🙂