What do you tell a child

[aj_law]

that has seen and heard things that no human being should ever have to experience?

I'm trying my best here, but I don't know what to say.

[Finnegans Wake]

I was wondering how close you were to this SD... please tell me this wasn't your SD...

[otismalibu]

I would bring in the professionals. For your standard breaks, bloody noses, etc. you can simply assure the young ones that it's not as bad as they think. WTF do you do with something like this?

A few years back, some fossil drove through the wall of my daughter's elementary school cafeteria. Car came right into the lunch room and killed a kid. We happened to be on vacation at the time. I wondered how many of the kids would be afraid to go back to school or be in the lunch room. Can't imagine what it's going to be like at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Hopefully, for some of the younger kids, these memories will fade over the years.

[aj_law]

This is our town.  This is our school.

Our children were there and made it out alive (can't believe I actually have to say something like that) thanks to the efforts of some incredible, incredible people.  

The teacher that was killed shielding her students was my son's 1st grade teacher last year.

Nightmare.  Somebody wake me up, please.

[SCacalaki]

Wow, how awful

agree with oat that professionals are the way to go

I can't imagine what you, your family and neighbors are going through

[pensodyssey]

Truly awful, AJ.  All my condolences, and am glad to hear the law family is safe. 

[Finnegans Wake]

Just so glad your kids are OK, brother, and so sad this happened... period.  Agree with others that you do whatever you can with counseling, and know that kids are resilient. 

It's just terrible for the whole community, and tragic that your kid's teacher was killed. 

Gonna be tough for all of you, not just the kids.  Hug 'em close, man.

[jonzr]

Oh fuck, I had no idea aj.  I'm with otis on this, counselling is the call here.  So sorry to hear this.

[aj_law]

Just three nights ago, our daughter's 4th grade chorus performed in that same NHS auditorium that was used for tonight's services where the POTUS spoke.  Principal Hochsprung was there, smiling as usual.  She gave my daughter and wife a candy cane each.  Haven't seen Vicki Soto since the school year started.  Our son loved her.  He gets choked up (as do we) everytime he sees a picture of her.

Heroes.  That term gets thrown around way too much, but not in this case.  Fucking heroes.

All the pictures of those semi-familiar children's faces.  Heartbreaking.  I can barely turn on the TV or go on the Net because they're everywhere.

The public outpouring of support has been spectacular.  The media feeding frenzy hasn't.  Our quiet town has been turned into a circus.

Please feel free to let those active members that don't have Admin abilities know what's going on.  I was going to post this in the General Discussion forum, but I wanted to keep it semi-private.  I had planned on using it as a place where I can just vent and ramble about stuff if that's OK.

On second thought, somebody can go ahead and move it there.  Probably easier, anyway.  Never know, maybe others out there can provide some advice/guidance on navigating this nightmare too.

Whatevs...

One last thing, hug your kids, nieces, nephews, whoever, a little more often and a little tighter...I know I do.

[msdmnr2002]

AJ, I can't begin to imagine what that's like.  The now is horrible, and who knows how long it will continue.  And just when people are on their way to putting pieces together, there will be the inevitable one year, 5 year, and 10 year followup "how are they doing" segments.

Sorry about the circus.  I wish I could say it was well intentioned, but the media will move on as soon as TVs start turning elsewhere.  A luxury the rest of the world has that sadly you don't.

Even if all we can do is listen, we'll be here for that.