Writing has always been a way for me to express my thoughts and feelings with those that have a long enough attention span to get through a paragraph or two of text. I always start writing to make a point, but it never ends that way. I attempt to write something persuasive, but I always just ramble through a number of thoughts that, I feel, may illustrate a perspective that may be worth while. If it's not, at least the process was cathartic enough for me to go about my day, attempting to live according to random thoughts on a page.
My thoughts today are similar to just about everyone else. First came the heartbreak of knowing twenty children, not too much older than my own, we executed today. They will not be meandering from school - distracted by the wonders of the world around them - home to their loved ones. They are gone. Their lives were halted, abruptly. Crudely.
I then felt rage. The rage of bewilderment why in hell we as a people could allow this to happen? That we allow people to possess tools of such awful capabilities. I do not give a damn about your love for hunting, or sense of security, and I no longer recognize your "right" to own such an instrument of destructive capability. Screw it. Twenty families are broken today. Twenty Christmases ruined. Twenty little hearts stopped beating today and I cannot come up with any good reason why I shouldn't go door to door and take every last possible weapon out of the hands of a people that obviously are not adult enough to handle such a responsibility as to know that an elementary school of children is meant to be safe; a sanctuary for the minds and hopes of our future.
Now I know that tragedy will force the absolute extremes of our feelings to the surface of our consciousness, and I know that those who wish to create pain, will always find a way to do so. But one must ask why? Why do people wish to do these things? Why are they so lost in their own world's that they cannot see that the tender youth of Moses Lake, Springfield, Littleton, Taber, Chardon, and Newton deserve their life of school lunches and homework like everyone else?
And if the next question asked is not "How can I help stop this?" then I have lost faith in the human race. How can I help? I cannot get the guns, I don't believe anyone can. I cannot police the schools. I cannot stop bullets. I cannot do much. All I have to offer is the love that I possess and my willingness to share it.
I believe that the unconditional love from those around us is powerful enough to reverse the evils of the day. I cannot speak to the mind and actions of others. But I believe that from this day forward, if I give away all the kindness in my heart, I can make a difference.
A friend of mine has a well-known saying, "Take care of each other" that I think sums up my thoughts today. And I think it is the thought that I want to hold onto, as a result today's tragedy. Be kind to each other. Love each other. And for the sake of the future, please take care of each other. I would like to help. Try me, I will. Tell your friends you love them today. Be kind to those around you and look forward to tomorrow with a hope that twenty young children lost their lives, only to rally the world in a cause to re-kindle the spirit of love and understanding and peace that we all deserve.