Today was just another day.......just like Friday.
Friday, parents woke and dressed their children and sent them on their way. They were probably planning things for later when the bus would bring them home like dinner or dance class or a run to the mall for Christmas shopping. 27 families had their world change in a few minutes.
Friday was just another day.........just like today.
I heard a story of a mother who was waiting in the firehall for their child on Friday. Parents has been called to join up with their children one by one. Those still left there who weren't already grabbed up earlier by frantic parents. Then there was nothing. In that hall stood parents who waited for what must have seemed like eternity for their name to be called to get their child. Then someone walked in and said, "Today was a tragic day for Newtown. Today we lost 20 children" and their lives were changed forever.
How those moments must have felt like. How it must have taken their breath away when it became reality what he was telling them. How their hearts must have broken. How they must have thought it was a silly and cruel joke and their child would walk out to them.
The mother in this story said she went home and crawled in her daughters bed cause she knew that was the last place she had been only hours prior. My heart reached out to her. I understood. I felt her pain. I think the world understands. I wished I could reach through the tv and hug the pain away. I understood.
The drs spent the morning telling us to talk with our children. To reasure them. To tell them that they are safe and their school has measures to keep them safe.
Isn't that what Sandy Hook Elementary did? Didn't those children feel safe that morning? Didn't the school have saftey measures in place that they believed worked? Didn't those parents send their children off to school and expect them to come home that day?
How do you reassure when you don't understand or have the answers yourself? How do you make them feel safe when, in truth, you want to hide your children and pray no harm comes to them?
So what is the solution? Is it to make our childrens school safer? How do we do that? Install bullet proof glass? Put alarms on door? Never allow the children to play outside for recess or gym? Put bars on windows? Place them in bullet and fire proof boxes under lock and key for their "safety" and allow people to roam free with access to guns or worse while we hide?? Is that the solution?
I cannot reassure my children because they are not safe. Adam Lanza proved that on December 14th at 9:30 in the morning on a normal day.......just like today.
"God must have needed angels today" someone at church reassured us yesterday. God didn't take those babies on Friday. God didn't have his hand on the gun or controlled the man who shot them 11 times. God certainly didn't seem to be there that early December morning. Yes. Those children went home to God on Friday. But I don't think he called them.
As we go through our days and ready for the upcoming holidays let us take a moment to hug and kiss our families that one extra time. Inhale their scent. Caress their heads. Send your teenager a text that you love them. Spend extra moments that normal you would have taken to do something else.
Don't let today be just another day.........just like Friday.
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