I strayed away from social media and most all other forms of media on Friday, and for most of the weekend. Why? Well, ignorance is bliss. Hearing the news of a man senselessly killing 20 young children and several adults at Sandy Hook Elementary, in Connecticut, in the country in which I live, which is also the greatest country in the world, was enough to make me want to throw up. Literally. My stomach turned, my heart sank, and I couldn't stop crying. I didn't want to know anymore. I wanted to pretend that evil like that doesn't exist. But it does.
But what truly broke my heart was not just those innocent children whose lives were ended way too soon, but also those other children at that school. That is because they have all witnessed something that we all try to protect our children from:: the evil in this world.
I gave in and read a couple of different articles and this quote is one I will never forget::
"The kindergartners were told to line up and cover their eyes as they were led by police past bodies, presumably of their fellow schoolmates...."
I can only imagine how I would feel if that's something I had to witness but what about a child witnessing that? A child who is pure and innocent and 'evil and monsters' only exist on tv, or in movies, or in other 'fantasy worlds'. That is something a child should NEVER have to witness. They should never ever be worried about their safety or their well being. That is the job of the parent. We protect them from that. That harsh reality should hit them much later in life. All they should be worried about is watching their favorite cartoon, or deciding what toy they want to play with, or how many times they want to go down the slide at the playground, not about somebody walking into their school and shooting them.
As a parent, how do you make your child ever feel safe again? How do you convince yourself that your child is safe? When I'm flipping through the news and Talon hears about somebody breaking into someones house or someone shooting someone, I assure him that kind of stuff doesn't happen around here because his safety is not something I want him to worry about. So how do you assure your child when they have witnessed first hand that does happen around here, around anywhere? Along with many innocent children tragically losing their lives on Friday, many others lost their innocence that day and that breaks my heart.
I have a 5 year old so this really hits home for me. Talon knows not to talk to strangers or not to leave my side in public because there are 'bad guys' out there and someone could 'take him'. It should be left at that. A child should never know what would probably happen if they were ever 'taken'. He doesn't need to know that someone is capable of coming in our house, or coming to his school, or coming anywhere at anytime and just killing people. Innocent people. Innocent children. And my heart hurts so bad for those children because they now know that kind of evil is real. Those monsters are real.
Every night when I say my prayers, I pray to God to always keep Talon happy, healthy, safe, and protected, and to allow me to keep him out of harms way. And tonight I pray that my child never has to witness such a horrific event,I pray for healing and peace for all of those families and children effected by this tragedy, and I pray something like this never happens again.
Rest In Peace Sweet Angels
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