I’ve felt sick since I heard the news. I have so much to say but I can’t get it out. And if I wrote what I’m really thinking, it’d likely come out like the Onion’s coverage of the massacre.
My boy is in Kindergarten, and it’s hard to look at him without thinking of the 20 children that were taken today. I can’t look at Twitter without thinking of Principal Dawn Hochsprung who, by her tweets, demonstrated such love and compassion for her job, her community, and the children under her care. And, I can’t stand the politicizing – debates over the 2nd Amendment, the NRA, treatment for mental health issues – on these days that we should simply be mourning for those lost, celebrating their lives and their heroism, and giving this community the space and support needed. The politics can wait and these issues will be divisive long after we’ve laid the victims to rest.
If you want to know how you can help right now, read this Newtown resident’s perspective on the press coverage and respect this plea.
For the record, no one in Newtown was talking about gun control laws, mental health issues, or anything. We were just holding each other, trying to make sense of the senseless. We are ok with you grieving with us, but put down the camera and help us try to piece back together our lives. We need that more than media coverage of this sad day in our history.
If you need to discuss this with your children or students, please see Jason Kottke’s great list of resources on “How to Talk to Kids About School Massacres.”
And if our mainstream press really wants to make sure that this tragedy is not repeated, take some advice from this Charlie Brooker segment (especially after the 1:30 mark) on how *not* to report on mass murder.
To the victims and families devastated by this tragedy, I mourn for you. My heart is broken, and I can’t imagine your pain.
Thank you for taking this perspective. I’ve been silent throughout my network’s reaction to the tragedy, and this is one of the reasons. The clip is very good.
My son is also in kindergarten and I cant watch or read any of the coverage without putting myself in those parents shoes. I agree you 100%. All I have done is mourn for those families snd tried to empathize by visualizing my son in that school and the last thing I want to hear right now is a political debate about the issue, this is about kids and teachers.
You speak for so many of us who remain stunned and sad and uncomprehending in our shared grieving.
Even though we are so far away here in Australia, we have felt the shock and sadness of this terrible tragedy. As both a parent and a teacher, it has made me think about the ‘What if…’ scenario that could occur and how ready we would be. Thank you for sharing Alec.