The Sweet, Innocent Children

We are living in a society in which madness is running amok. Suicide is no longer the tragedy it used to be. We must now worry about murder-suicide. It's not enough that a depressed man wants to die. Now he wants to take other people out with him. I imagine he feels like a failure in life, so he attempts to be infamous in death. People will know he existed, because they will notice when he starts shooting.

So, you want to kill your mother? That, alone, is evil. Why must you do it at a school? Why must you shoot the sweet, innocent children?

An unidentified child said on the news, "I heard seven booms. We didn't scream, we cried."

I want those children to know that I am crying with them. My heart breaks for them, the dead, the wounded and the survivors. My blood runs cold with every parent's worst fear, "What if it had been my child?"

President Barack Obama said:

     We've endured too many of these tragedies in the past few

     years... The majority of those who died today were children

     -- beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years

     old. They had their entire lives ahead of them birthdays,

     graduations, weddings, kids of their own...So our hearts

     are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters

     and brothers of these little children... Our hearts are

     broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for as

     blessed as they are to have their children home tonight,

     they know that their children's innocence has been torn away

     from them too early, and there are no words that will ease

     their pain.

Your speech is touching, Mr. President, but what are you going to do about it. How will you keep our children safe at school? How will you protect our loved ones when they go out to eat, Christmas shopping or to a movie?

In my heart, I know that nothing can be done. This is madness. We cannot protect against madness, because madness is totally unpredictable.

I talked to my son about what happened. He admitted that these stories scare him. But he is happy because in middle school, they are allowed to barricade the doors and escape through windows, if possible. And this makes him happy? Lord, save us all.

Tonight, I will hug my beautiful child and thank God that he is home safe with me. In another part of our nation, there are dozens of parents who cannot do that. The only thing left for them to embrace is grief and pain.

Oh, the children... The sweet, innocent children...