As I entered the grocery store on Saturday, drenched from the pouring rain, I matched the quick pace of a younger woman and grabbed the same shopping cart just as she did. We both apologized. I made a comment about the rain. She said she was having trouble focussing. I listened as she questioned “why?” and hugged her as her eyes welled in puddles of tears. She seemed to need someone to hold on to just then and, if truth be told, I needed a hug as well. We parted, strangers in a strange world trying to comprehend what had happened in Newton, Connecticut . What has happened, over and over and over again in the recent past, this time taking the lives of twenty children and six adults in Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The Our Lady of Angels fire on December 1, 1958 was one of the worst school fires in history. An old, wooden structure, the school met basic safety inspections, but was a tinder box just waiting to ignite. The actual cause of the fire has never been determined, though it seems to have started in the basement where matches were found. It was likely arson. Speculation remains that it may have been a child who started the fire.
Almost anyone over the age of 60 and living in the Chicago area at the time remembers the Our Lady of Angels fire. I recall coming home from school to find my mother and grandmother watching the coverage on television, in shock. I remember going to school the next day, my third grade teacher having the same shocked look on her face. She let us take turns holding her hands as we walked around the playground at recess. We were all holding on to life itself, it seemed.
National attention grew quickly out of the fire. Lawmakers and citizens alike demanded that something be done so that it would never happen again. Out of the ashes came life safety and fire protection codes, which brought about safer schools, uniform standards, accessible fire alarms, etc. I can still remember the bustle of activity in my own little school, Roosevelt Elementary, as fire protection engineers, inspectors, and construction workers bustled about putting in fire doors and other measures of protection.
In 1958/59, our lawmakers took a stance, banded together no matter their political party in an effort to protect us all, but, mostly to protect our most precious gifts – our children.
Sandy Hook Elementary School has all the benefits of the best of the best in educators, the most up-to-date measures in school security, and first responders who could not have been quicker or better equipped.
The lone executioner had weapons and intent far beyond our constitutional right to bear arms, protect property, or hunt. In ten minutes, he swiftly and barbarically took 26 lives, most of them six and seven year old children. Such dastardly acts hold captive one of our Four Freedoms – our Freedom from Fear. I know there are societal issues and mental illness that come into consideration. I also know that there is the fundamental issue of protecting our children that is paramount.
It is, is it not, like that tragic school fire, a life safety issue?
Many years ago, I was working in my classroom on a Saturday when no one else was at the school. My children came with me and asked to go to the gym to shoot baskets. I felt a sudden coldness. I checked in the hall to see if my kids were opening the door. I looked and the bottom half of the glass door had been broken with glass trailing into the building and through the inside door. I knew someone had broken in and was possibly still in the building. I yelled as loudly as I could and acted like I was communicating with others as I ran toward the gym and my children. They were there and fine, but I experienced about 30 seconds of terror that I will never forget. I don’t want to imagine what those parents in Sandy Hook went through for a longer period of time.
There is a collective mourning in our nation this week. Everyone has a desire to hug their kids, family members and friends. I am sure there was a huge uptick in the number of phone calls, texts, e-mails and personal encounters as we all wanted to touch base with our loved ones. My prayer is that the pain is less and people will find peace. Remember the love, hang on to it. Let go of the pain.
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I know that kind of terror, Janet, and, like you, imagining what those parents went through is unimaginable. Thank goodness your children were okay.
That is a good prayer, dear friend. They certainly need to time to grieve. Thank you for your insight, Janet. It is good.
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Such a shocking event, Penny, and we have all felt the shock waves here as well. You are so right; we cannot let fear take us hostage. We must find a way through. Protecting our little ones is so basic. My prayers and love are with you all.
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I think the shock of this has sent ripples out near and far away, Juliet, and your prayers and love are greatly appreciated. I am hoping fervently that something positive can be gleaned from this.
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I think I’m a little bit like the woman you met at the store, Penny. I’ve been in a bit of a fog. I was a first grade teacher, and I have been a little too obsessed with the way the teachers acted so heroically…then the utter anguish. I pick Sophia up from Kindergarten once a week and just adore watching the children in her class lining up so eager to meet their parents. I think we really are all feeling bereft, and in a few days we’ll find a way to stop the tears, but there has to be an action that accompanies the grief.
I think you’ve articulated what I’ve been feeling and couldn’t find the words to say. I know how passionately people feel about their 2nd Amendment Rights, but do we need to have assault weapons? I just feel forlorn over the fear that this will come down to politics and division, NOT the safety of our children. I really do hope I’m wrong. Meanwhile we hug our children and each other. Peace.
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I have been thinking of the teachers as well, Debra. They did what teachers do and instinctively protected their children. I taught first grade for a time as well and so many of my friends are teachers. Part of my prayers are that no teacher would ever be faced with this again. Bereft is just how many are feeling and our tears will dry, but, oh those directly involved. I can’t imagine.
I thought very long and hard about writing this and finally reached the point where I just felt I needed to. Yes, let’s hug our children and hope that some positive outcomes are achieved to honor the lives of so many. Peace to you as well, Debra.
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I hadn’t heard of the fire (I was ten that year), and clicked on your link to read more. So very terrible, and if indeed that boy started it, the situation is not all that different, is it? One person who is determined can do horrible, terrible things.
There aren’t words. I walk around in that same fog. So very sad. So very helpless. With the awareness that there is no safety. Whether in a school or a mall or a movie theatre or on a Norwegian island or even in one’s home.
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If it wasn’t such horrific news here, Nan, at the age of nine I am sure my parents would have shielded us from it. As it was, it was all over the newspapers back in the day when there were late afternoon papers and on the nightly news. No, it is not all that different from Sandy Hook. One person wreaking so much tragedy. A college friend went to Our Lady of Angels. One of her brothers died in the fire. The family never really got over it. They moved and their lives moved on, but, it effected them all through life.
I know. Debra used the word forlorn. It comes the closest to how I feel right now. Take care, Nan.
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I’m feeling the same sadness over here, Penny, as this terrible tragedy echoes a similar event in a primary school in a little town in Scotland in 1996 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_school_massacre
where most of the victims were only 5 years old.
The public outcry after this tragedy led to much stricter gun control in the UK and the eventual banning of all private handgun ownership in mainland Britain. I realise that the situation and attitudes in the USA are very different, but I pray that the loss of so many young lives may be a turning-point that enables at least these powerful assault weapons to be controlled.
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I went to the link, Perpetua, and it sent chills up my spine. I remember that tragedy, watching it from afar, feeling for those little children, their families, and all involved.
I can only hope that our own lawmakers follow Great Britain’s lead. Right now, the rhetoric is high and fervent, particularly about assault weapons, but, when it comes down to really making a change, I’m not too confident right now. I will remain hopeful and I do thank you for your words here, Perpetua.
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I agree, Penny. It is also worth noting that whilst firearms have been around for centuries mass shootings have only begun to occur since the late sixties, and the number of incidences has accelerated in the last 20 years. There are variables here which have to do with the choices people make. Values are at the bottom of this.
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So true, Kate. Our collective value systems have changed and I fear we have lost our souls. Here, we have had four of these horrific incidents in less than a year. A temple, a shopping mall, a movie theater – and now an elementary school.
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Yes Penny, it absolutely is a public safety issue and something needs to be done sooner rather than later.. Some good simply MUST come out of this insane and horrible event. I can relate to the needing-a-hug feeling of the young lady in the store and I am glad for her that you were there. Perhaps she was away from family …my daughter and I have spent hours on the phone this week, just needing to connect and talk (about the issue and just to touch base even more than usual).
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I truly hope so, Sallie. I was a little more hopeful a few days ago. Let’s hope anew. I think a lot of folks are needed to talk, connect, reach out and, as you say, touch base.
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On Saturday morning the day after the Newtown tragedy, I wrote letters to Pres Obama, my two Senators, my old U S Rep and my new district U s Rep,Senator Reid and Rep Boehner. I reminded them that they are our leaders and they pass the laws that affect our lives. I begged them to do something about guns.
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Good for you, Marilyn. There is a clarion call for action – I hope it is heeded by our elected officials.
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