Tragedy

The school shooting last week was especially hard for those of us who works in schools but not as hard as it was for parents of elementary kids. I heard about it on Friday while still at work. I did have to talk to one kiddo who saw it in the office on the news. Se was laughing about it to her friends. Shevdoesn't cope well and tends to say the opposite of what she feels. Mid afternoon we got an email from the superintendent that was from President Obama about putting the flag at half mast. It hit pretty hard that this was a big deal.
When I got home, the tv wasn't on. At one point, I looked it up on the Internet rather than turn on the tv so I could choose what I wanted to be exposed to. I read for about 5 minutes then turned it off. I did see some posts on Facebook and there was a lot of blame going around. I went to the office party that night and it wasn't talked about other than a person whose wife was a teacher who didn't come because she was struggling. Later I found out they have a grandchild that age. Nothing more that weekend other than finding some resources and ideas on Pinterest.
On Sunday, we prayed in church for the families and survivors and wrote a card that the Wesleyan church in Newton agreed to mail to the families.
On Monday, I had two kids referred down who needed to buzz about it so we talked awhile. Greg did a brief announcement just stating that we send our good thoughts to Newtown, to seek help if they needed it, and then a moment of silence. It was helpful. There were some emails and resource sharing amongst the social workers and from the head office.
Later in the day, a staff member came and we talked quite awhile. We talked about safety measures and how safe we feel in our school. He cried. We know there is no way to prevent something like that, just minimize the carnage and try to minimize the trauma.
Then at exercise class, I asked a kindergarten teacher how she was doing and if it was hard. She said that she knows she loves her kids that much, enough to die for them. It seriously choked me up. She is young like the young lady who put her kids in the closet and died for them in Newtown. This gal also works in a school that she feels unsafe in for multiple reasons. It made me feel good about Eisenhower.
A couple of points made on Facebook resonated with me. One was the post about the mom with a mentally ill son who feels helpless. Every year I have at least two to three kids on my caseload who are capable of something like this. All you can do is keep them as surrounded with help as possible and take action each time they go toward the edge. You can't ignore the signs and signals. I wonder how many disasters we've actually averted through our actions. Scary, huh?
Another post that was meaningful was the one by Morgan Freeman (later found out it was not him). He said that this happens because the media glorifies the shooter. If you are a disturbed individual who wants to go out in glory and be remembered, just do this and make sure it's bigger than the last one so it makes the news and guarantees your name and face will be remembered. The victims are soon forgotten in the media. So sick to think what someone will have to do to top this.
Another post was by Huckabee. I thought about posting a simple comment that says that God is love and where there is an absence of God, there is an absence of love and what remains is hate. Huckabee talks about how we limit God in our society, in our lives, and then wonder how things like this happen. We actually give satan permission to do this, people!
School is pretty calm now. I think that people may want to move on and stick to the routine. We 'll be reviewing our safety plans and maybe beefing up some things, mostly to make ourselves feel better. Today I heard they want us to keep our doors locked at all times and carry our keys everywhere we go. Ugh. We will probably take up some donations or write some cards or something. We will pray for the school and community tomorrow in FCA. And we'll move on. I will keep Newton and Sandy Hook in my prayers for a very long time.