It feels wrong to finish my
overdue third birthday post without saying something about the Connecticut
school shooting. I have for the most part avoided news stories and blog posts.
But a few bloggers have addressed it better than I can.
"I’ve been trying not to think about the event itself, looking at the coverage out of the corner of my eye. Do you know that is a preemie survival technique? Their brains become so overwhelmed from stimulation that they cope by looking at things out of the corner of their eye instead of head-on. So I am looking at the events at Sandy Hook out of the corner of my eye, trying to distract myself."
Maybe it’s because I was a preemie, but more likely because as Mel’s husband Josh said, "sending our children to school has always been an act of faith." Every day I send my precious daughter out into the world while I go to work. She is in the care of teachers who love her, as were the children of Newtown. As she grows older, I will have to allow her more and more freedom in the world. In order to manage fears that could easily explode out of control, I sometimes need to put my blinders on.
I also found myself agreeing
with this post I came across and this post of Jen’s that Mel listed in a
Roundup.
As for how to
prevent/minimize these types of horrific crimes, this post made a lot of sense
to me, even though I think some of the ideas are unrealistic. If even some of
them were implemented, the world would be somewhat safer. And, really, that's the best we can do.
