Did you feel it? Did you cry when you heard about the children who were murdered? I spoke at length to my wife about what it would be like if this happened to one of our children. We wondered aloud about how someone could cope with something so horrific. We related to the parents. We saw our children in the faces of the children at Sandy Hook. We wondered what could make a person do something like this. What struck me so poignantly was the outpouring of emotion we saw in our nation and people asking, “What can be done?”
This tragedy is making us take a hard look in the mirror. There are protests outside the NRA. Lawmakers are questioning their positions. School districts are questioning their systems. That age old argument about our 2nd amendment is again in question. Mental health funding and awareness is being questioned.
Have you looked in the mirror at yourself? Are you responsible for what happened at Sandy Hook? Am I? What was the answer to the first question in this article? I felt it. It was gut wrenching. The same thoughts kept going through my mind over and over. WE OWE OUR CHILDREN A BETTER WORLD. These babies are brought into a world that we created for them. Wide eyed, trusting, loving without reservation. There is something that is easily observed in children in their natural state, their ability to trust. We have to teach them to be afraid. I’ve often talked to my kids about “stranger danger.” This is the responsible thing to do, but isn’t it a shame? We have to teach our children to forgoe what is natural to them and replace it with fear. This is one of the first things we teach our children about society – to be afraid. We owe our children a better world.
Why did you feel it? We felt it because of our interconnectedness. We are all connected – joined – inseparable. Children inherently know this, but we have to teach them to separate, to fear. Our interconnectedness is unmistakable. We are all humans, racing through an incomprehensibly large universe, together. There are many things that can be changed as a result of Sandy Hook, and I’m hoping that the changes will help provide a safer world for our children. However, we owe our children a better world.
As you look in the mirror at how you are responsible for Sandy Hook – I would challenge you in this way. What are you doing to make yourself a safer person? Are you aware of yourself and how you add your 2 cents to this world? Are you constantly striving to become a better person? People may ask, “What can I do? I’m just one person. I’m just a single drop in the ocean.” As someone else so eloquently said – “Isn’t the ocean just a collection of single drops?” So – what kind of drop are you? What do you add to our collective ocean? Are you toxic? Are you selfish? Do you care?
In order for us to create a better world for the children we live in there has to be an individual awakening. We are interconnected. What you do influences and affects me and vice versa. We are blind to this because many times we do not see the effects of our behaviors, however, just because you are blind does not mean it does not happen. When we, as a species can start to understand that we are not separate from one another then real change can begin to occur. This is my dream for my children. I want to leave the world a better place than I found it. I want to be the best person I can be, and I still have a lot of work to do. I owe it to them as their father. I owe it to you because I am your brother and you are mine, and his, and hers, and theirs.
Peace to this country. May we blind, ignorant adults learn from the precious lives of the Sandy Hook children.
