Unthinkable tragedy a reminder for all of us

Elevated school breaks ground
December 19, 2012
The gumbo and the water
December 19, 2012
Elevated school breaks ground
December 19, 2012
The gumbo and the water
December 19, 2012

Press the pause button on your busy, action-filled lives and grab a hold of your children or closest loved ones this week.


Once in your grasp, take time out of your day to say those three precious words that we often take for granted in our lives – I love you.


Too many families in Connecticut no longer have the opportunity to say those words to their loved ones this week after a lone gunman broke into Sandy Hook Elementary School and opened fire, killing 20 children and six adults.

News of the horrific shooting put the nation on alert, as Americans countrywide watched in disgust and despair.


The common theme among most was the same: This could have happened anywhere and those innocent victims could have been my children.


As the story matured, we started to receive the names and we learned of the heroic acts of teachers and faculty, who sacrificed their lives to distract the shooter in hopes of saving children.

The photos are numbing and will resonate in our minds now and into the future – pictures of innocent children who should have had the rest of their lives ahead of them.


Instead, that hope has been shattered into pieces and their potential will remain untapped forever.


And for what reason?

A grudge? A vendetta? To prove a point?


Police don’t have a clear motive in the slaying yet. They do not know the reasons why 20-year-old Adam Lanza set forward one of the most disgusting acts in recent memory.

When a few grains of dust settled in the shooting’s aftermath, some Americans used the Sandy Hook incidents to make political statements regarding gun control in America.

Others said the shooting displayed again how big an issue mental illness has become in our country, adding that future attacks are inevitable if the problem isn’t rectified.

All of the points are valid and difficult conversations will need to take place in the future so that we can minimize the chances of another attack happening in the future.

But now is not that time.

Instead, we should turn our attention and energy toward grieving and togetherness.

We should cherish the things that we do have in our lives, while remembering the struggles of others who are now without loved ones during this Christmas season.

The world’s news cycle will speed up shortly and Sandy Hook will only be remembered in our memory bank in the immediate future.

So while it’s here, take the time to tell your loved ones that you care this Christmas season.

Life’s too short to let some words go unsaid.

May God Bless the people of Newton, Conn., in their time of need.