Tragedy

I was going to write a post today about how my daughter may have just said her first sentence ("which, incidentally, is "This is awesome"), but when we got home from the park we learned about the terrible shooting in Newtown, CT.  I feel compelled to write about this instead.

Facebook has become a forum for everyone's misguided opinions, and I have no illusions about this.  But today it and the people who populate it have made me extremely sad.  After hearing about the news of this national tragedy, do people mourn?  No.  Do they try to post links to help?  No.  Links to news sites that are covering it?  No.

They post political jibes and conjecture.  Suddenly everyone is an expert in gun control, mental diseases, and social infrastructure.  The first thing I read was an attack on Obama, on all people.  This person decided to use this for a political platform.  I'm 100% certain, however, that whenever there is a national tragedy like this, the incumbent president is blamed for it by at least a few idiots.  Now Facebook has let them and their bigotry intrude into our lives.

Surely the first reaction to an event like this should be shock, followed by an outpouring of prayers, good thoughts, sorrow, aid, and gratitude that the rest of us still have our children.  Then, after all the facts have been obtained, and only after all the facts have been obtained, we, as a people, should try to figure out IF this was preventable and how it could be prevented in the future.  There should be no political attacks, no uninformed conjecture.

So, allow me to say that I cannot even begin to imagine how the parents of those 20 or so children feel. When my daughter was born, she wasn't breathing and didn't breathe for about 4 minutes.  Even though I didn't get a chance to know her, I was filled with a terrible dread that I had lost her.  Already I was in love with her.  Now that I know her...  I cannot fathom a worse fate for a parent.  I will be praying for all of their families.

If you would like to help them, search for some sites that provide aid to the parents.  My wife found this one, but I haven't had time to verify how valid it is.  Nonetheless, it is better to give and held than it is to point fingers.

http://www.indiegogo.com/NewtownShootingFund

May God be with all of the victims and their families.