I love my friends. They make me look at myself sometimes and wonder "where did that come from?" or "why didn't I think of it that way?".
Yes, I'm not immune to the fact that many children die every day and year in countries around the world. It IS a tragedy of massive proportions and DOES deserve the same upheaval and indignation that the Sandy Hook shootings have invoked.
I'm not debating that.
I'm just saying, that for me, this in particular hurt me. As a mother of a young child, in an affluent nation, this could have been us. Could have been Bobcaygeon Elementary. Unfortunately, a lot of people more identify with something like this that occurred, than hunger related deaths or a war related slaughter in developing countries. It's not that I don't feel sympathy or anger or hurt when things like those are reported (or not reported, and found out about later). I very much do. I just had to post something about this yesterday, and how it affected me.
Many of my friends I know are up in arms about how this is once instance, 20 children not 2000, that occurs so often in other places around the world. I understand their position, most definitely.
My position is, no child should be murdered, or frightened, or hurt - anywhere in the world. And when something happens that you can all too easily relate to your own family, your own little part of the world, it hits home all the more. It's just natural. It isn't the most ideal situation, but I feel that if I allowed myself to feel what I did this time, when I fought it so hard, about everything that goes on - I would be a basketcase every single day. I donate where I can, when we can, and try to get educated about these things as much as I can as well. If I let this one affect me more than the others, all I can do is apologize.
I love that my friends are so empathetic. It makes me proud to be their friend!
Until reading this, I hadn't heard a single person trying to justify it by saying that hundreds or thousands of kids die on a daily basis. I can't imagine throwing that in someone's face when they're feeling so much pain, even if it is 'just' 20 kids. I'll freely admit that I bawled like a baby and have been crying on and off since Friday when I heard about the shootings. I have a kid in elementary school, and like you said, that could have been OUR school, OUR kids or kids we know. It hits closer to home than poverty or disease, which we don't really see here. We're incredibly blessed to live where we do, but something like this is horrible and heartbreaking, period. I think what's nice though is that people are staring to shine the spotlight on the heroes of the day - the teachers who sacrificed their own lives to protect those kids. THAT is amazing. THAT is what reaffirms my faith in the human race.
ReplyDelete