After watching the evening news reports of the horrible, tragic and senseless slaughter of 27 people including 20 elementary school children, I had to cast aside the blog I had already written and was ready to post. It can wait. My blog was trivial and especially more so in light of the tragedy in that Connecticut Elementary School.
There are no words to express the horror and grief of parents losing their young babies to such mindless violence. I’m not even going to try as I’ve yet to read or hear words from skilled, extremely talented professionals that even come close to describing what parents who lost children yesterday must be going through. It’s unimaginable.
Watching the news last night, I was very impressed at the way the networks handled this extremely difficult story. The shooter was not glorified and, in fact, hardly mentioned in most stories. The story had to be told but is was not sensationalized. Most of the newscasts centered on the victims of the tragedy and how a stricken community was attempting to come together to deal with such a terrible event.
29 year old Kaitlin Roig was heroic in protecting her 6 & 7 yr. olds
There were also stories about the heroic efforts of school teachers trying to protect and comfort their young students still trapped inside the school. One story where Diane Sawyer of ABC interviewed 29 year old teacher Kaitlin Roig was particularly moving. Roig, still shaking, told Sawyer that "suddenly, I heard rapid fire... like an assault weapon. I knew something was wrong. It was horrific," she said. "I didn't think we were going to live."
When the shooting began, Roig said she quickly ushered the children, all aged 6 and 7, into the class bathroom helping some to climb on the toilet so they could all fit. She then pushed a wheeled storage unit in front of the door and locked it. Then, she told the children they had to be absolutely quiet because a “bad guy was out there”.
Roig said "If they started crying, I would take their face and tell them, 'It's going to be OK,'" Roig continued. "I wanted that to be the last thing they heard, not the gunfire in the hall." "I thought we were all going to die," she said through tears. "I told the kids I love them and I was so happy they were my students.”
Even when the gunfire stopped, she refused to take the children out, even later when there was knocking and voices saying they were police officers. Fearing that it was the gunman trying to lure them out, she said “I didn’t believe them” and told the officers to slide their badges under the door. They did and then unlocked the door to end a terrible ordeal for both the children and their heroic teacher.
That was the message I took away from watching these events on TV last night. It was good not evil that triumphed. Many local churches opened their doors for services and more importantly as meeting places for residents who were completely stunned by what had happened in their peaceful, quiet bedroom community. The churches were to remain open 24 hours a day to offer help and comfort.
There will be plenty of time to assess blame, argue and debate what should be done to try and prevent future tragedies. For now though it seems best, at least to me, to put those issues aside and simply grieve and support all those who are suffering unimaginable pain.
My thoughts are with all the residents of Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
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