The following post is my opinion and my opinion alone. Ultimately, I am just a guy with a blog and my opinion doesn't carry any weight anyway. The following post isn't to discuss any political aspect or motives on the part of the killer. I am certainly not an expert in either category and any discussion about gun control or anything else political just seems inappropriate at this juncture.
20 children and 6 adults lost their lives yesterday in a tragedy that is one of the worst in this country's history. It's daunting to consider for a moment that yesterday's tragedy had a death count that was double Columbine. Yesterday's shooting was a tragedy whether it was one person or 26 who died either way.
Yesterday was one of those days that test the human spirit and make people (including myself) question a number of things. After all, it's one thing to read about unspeakable evil and another to see the results of it developing live on television. However, it's especially important to keep things in perspective after yesterday's tragedy. The tragedy in Connecticut is a stark reminder about how fragile life truly and what is important. Every day is worth cherishing. It's just unfortunate that it often takes a tragedy to occur either on a large scale or in our own lives to remind us of that simple statement.
It's these type of tragedies that cause many people to lose "faith in the human race" so to speak. However, Mr. Rogers said it best: "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of disaster', I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing there are still so many helpers - so many caring people in this world."
In the coming weeks I'm sure we'll be subjected to hearing about every detail of the killer's life and all the signs that were missed that could have prevented this tragedy. However, it is also worth noting those who did their best to help as many children as they could survive this shooting. It would be another tragedy to let the actions of one person define people as a whole when there are plenty of good people out there.
I will not withhold my disgust however for much of the national media's coverage on this tragedy. The mere fact that someone even attempted to interview children who were involved in this shooting is appalling. Never mind the fact that it was recorded and actually broadcasted on several television stations. Anyone who had a role in perpetuating the exploitation of these children should be ashamed of themselves.
I am also disgusted by many in the media simply rushing to get all the information they can out there, in many cases not checking to see if the facts are correct. It's no better than attempting to read a Twitter feed for news about the tragedy. One of the biggest mistakes they made was mistakenly naming Ryan Lanza the killer and not Adam Lanza. This man was being accused of these heinous killings, while being faced with the news of his mother, and little brother's deaths. His picture was flashed across the television.
I am sure we will hear countless reasons about why the killer committed this heinous act in the next couple weeks as people on both sides of the political spectrum attempt to use this incident as a way to push forward their agenda.
I'm not going to pretend that I have the answers for what happened yesterday because I don't. All I can say is that my thoughts go out to those families who were impacted by this tragedy. Especially the mothers and fathers who will be spending this upcoming Christmas without their children. My only suggestion to anyone reading this is to remember what is important in your life and commit to looking at each day as a valuable one. I know I will certainly be attempting to do so.
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