Hug them a little closer

[dave&di]

Prayers to all involved, I can't fathom how the families and community deal with something like this.

This world can be hideously cruel some times. I dont have children, one reason that stops me is the world they would be born into, I can't imagine having something so precious to me snatched away like that.

 

[disneydad1000]

as a father of a 5yr old and 7 month old i cant imagine what the families are having to deal with..but i will say that nit picking about what Disney does on a daily basis seems pretty pathetic if we look at the big picture....so sad

 

[disneydad1000]

I understand this is A fan based website but it just seems to bring out such negativety in some people!!!!!!!!!!!!!That just stinks

 

[disneydad1000]

Sorry guys..just upset about what happened Conn. ..DW a 1st grade teacher and DD in kindergarten..such a shame

 

[Bob Saget]

I don't understand society anymore, and cannot even imagine what the parents are going through right now. This was horrible.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I had to turn off the news and stop reading articles...all it does is make me cry. My tomboy of a 4 year old and my diva of a 6 year old have no idea why mommy won't stop hugging them, kissing them, and telling them that I love them, but they're also not complaining. I also called my own mother...a school teacher for over 40 years. Still can't wrap my head around this, but my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone impacted. May they find strength and peace.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Absolutely devastated here in CT. Thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families. It is impossible for me to comprehend the murder of children.

 

[cba]

I used to live in Connecticut, can't imagine why anyone would do such a thing. Prayers go out to the families who were affected

 

[BenSmith]

So sad, RIP to all the kids and the teachers. Their families are in my thoughts

 

[jharvey]

This doesn't belong in this section of the forum

Agreed, but let me explain my thinking. To place something like this under a forum titled "chit chat" struck me as tacky considering the subject matter. Kinda like putting a 9/11 post in a forum titled YOLO. So it came down to trip reports, dining, rumors, and the one I picked. I knew the mods would move it, as they should have. Only I would not be the one to classify discussions about the murder of 20 babies as "chit chat".

To be clear though, I have no doubts that, in the end, that would be the only landing point.

 

[dkaudio]

You dont kill kids. You dont. Not that any killing is any easier to deal with than any other. But you dont take kids from their parents. It doesnt get any worse than what this guy did today. My DD just turned two and she is my life. I cant even begin to imagine what those parents are going through right now....

 

[Tiggerish]

One of my co-workers had to leave early today to pick up his son whose school was locked down, as it is in that system, although not the school where the shooting took place. Shook our whole office. What is the world coming to????

 

[miles1]

One of my co-workers had to leave early today to pick up his son whose school was locked down, as it is in that system, although not the school where the shooting took place. Shook our whole office. What is the world coming to????

We live in Danbury, about 5-6 miles from Newtown. Many of the faces I've seen on the news reports are people I know, and everyone here seems to know somebody that lost a child. The list of fatalities is supposed to be released later this morning, about 8 AM local time. Sandy Hook (a burrough of Newtown) is probably one of the last places you would expect something like this to happen, but then again so were Columbine and Aurora. The whole thing seems somewhat surreal around here right now and I can't imagine what the parents are going through; my heart goes out to them. Thanks to everyone from around the country that are keeping them in their prayers.

Regardless of where you stand on the gun control issue, I think we need to figure out what in our society is driving people to comit these unimaginable acts.

 

[maryszhi]

i gave my parents the biggest hug when they picked me up from the airport. My heart breaks for those impacted. my heart, thought, and prayers are with them.

 

[luv]

I really think they need to STOP putting this stuff on the news. It only encourages more of it.

My heart breaks for those poor little frightened children. And it breaks some more for the grieving parents. I wish so much I could do something to help.

All I can do is pray for them.

All the funerals they're going to have, with the little coffins. I can hardly bear to think of it.

I do wish the newspeople would stop putting pictures of these grieving parents upon the screen. They've been through enough. Don't have to add insult to injury. Have some heart or class...or just plain old pity. Leave them be.

 

[aw14]

I am torn about the whole situation. As the father of a 4th grader, and also a school administrator it is truly your worst fears come to fruition. I cannot imagine at all what the parents are going through....and as an administrator you go through a tremendous amount of deliberation about your security and your drills, but nothing you do can truly prepare you for something like this.

 

[The Mom]

Agreed, but let me explain my thinking. To place something like this under a forum titled "chit chat" struck me as tacky considering the subject matter. Kinda like putting a 9/11 post in a forum titled YOLO. So it came down to trip reports, dining, rumors, and the one I picked. I knew the mods would move it, as they should have. Only I would not be the one to classify discussions about the murder of 20 babies as "chit chat".

To be clear though, I have no doubts that, in the end, that would be the only landing point.

If you search the forum archives, or log in on 9/11, you will find that the "live" responses to 9/11 were posted and remain in the Chit Chat forum. That was the first time that forum members discussed a national or international tragedy here, and has been the standard placement since then.

God help us if the day comes when we have to set up a new sub-forum just to discuss horrible tragedies due to frequency.

I pray that we can find some way to heal people who were either born without a moral compass, or lose it along the way. The scariest part of this tragedy is that the news accounts giving details about the shooter could be describing many of the young men we encounter every day. Quiet, smart, academically gifted - but with an invisible, festering hatred that suddenly surfaces. Knowing that there is a chance that it could have been your child, on either side of the gun, is a parents worst nightmare. We do the best we can to raise and protect our children, but are faced with the reality that we are powerless in the face of evil, and most of the time we can't even recognize it to protect ourselves.

That scares the **** out of me. There but for the Grace of God.....

 

[Nemo14]

As we hear more and more about this horrific event, stories of heroic actions by staff members and teachers have emerged. As a former teacher who's been through enough of those "lock-down" drills that they became kind of "old hat", I have the greatest admiration and respect for all those teachers that day who did so much to protect those kids under unimaginable circumstances. Some paid a very high price for it. We acknowledge that when our men or women enroll in the military, they understand that their commitment might mean paying the ultimate price, but pursuing a teaching career shouldn't come with the same risks.

We hear so much negativity about teachers, but in my experience, as a parent, a teacher, a teacher's wife, and a teacher's mother, our schools and classrooms are led by men and women who truly love your kids, and indeed would do whatever it takes to protect them. I pray that they never have to again. So as your kids go back to school tomorrow, yes, give them an extra hug, but remember their teachers, administrators, and staff members too in your prayers. The events of last Friday have impacted us all.

 

[luv]

I am deeply saddened by this. And I know they said he was shooting randomly, but then they said that nobody was wounded and alive...which makes me think it wasn't so random, that he was going up close and shooting them one by one. The idea of dead kids and grieving loved ones is so tragic. The idea of those poor little things being so frightened as he approached them...I can hardly bear it.

We had a school shooting here - a high school. A football coach charged the shooter. Risked his life to try to save those kids. The kids said he was always telling them that he cared about them and that they could come and talk to him - confidentially, if needed - they weren't really surprised that he'd take a bullet for them. "Yeah, he likes us..." one of the kids said after they heard he did that and were asked if they'd known he was that heroic.

I read that one of the teachers hid her kids from the shooter and lied about their location, thus saving their lives. I don't know if it is true, but I like to think so. She was killed.

It is some comfort to me to think of heros in our midst. Restores some of my faith in human nature...because it is seriously lacking lately.

 

[Hakunamatata]

We live in a fallen world. There will always be evil. If we cower to evil, then those taken from us by it perish in vain.