The Last Thing I Wanted To Write About

   My modus operandi for writing blog posts is pretty basic--I realize that a thought is consistently running through my head and, if I think I have anything worthwhile to say about it, I sit down and get busy writing.
   I have been avoiding this process for the last few days, however, simply because the most persistent thought in my head has been the massacre of twenty young children.
   This, I think, has been inescapable for most of us. It's the time of year when we should all be involved in some kind of holiday preparation but the pall hanging over Newtown, Connecticut surely has enveloped us all. Random acts of violence are not uncommon anymore but this particular act hits harder and more bitterly than most.
   The fact that we lost children and lost them in such a manner is what rends us. It would have been horrific enough to have lost them in a school bus accident or a building collapse but the notion that an individual planned their deaths and then carried out that plan seems unfathomable.

   Along with all this pain comes politics. In our agony, we feel the desire to take a line of action that will fix things, prevent the pain from afflicting us again. Amidst all this, what you get is reaction mixed with over-reaction and, quite possibly, inaction.
   It's difficult to say whether or not, politically, things will change in the States. At the moment there are calls for greater gun control and there are calls for a greater mental health care presence. Regardless, in a world full of evil ways to commit murder, the unthinkable will occasionally continue to befall us.
   Volumes have been written already about this tragedy and most of my inner conflicting feelings have been voiced. In light of this, I have nothing new to offer, really. My first reaction is that the perpetrator should be as anonymous as possible. I truly don't know that we have anything else to learn about what motivates people to perform such acts and to have this person's face, name and history pasted all over the place seems to serve no purpose. Frankly, if there were a way to expunge him totally from our collective consciousness, then that would be fine with me. At that point, we could concentrate solely on lives of the children and the teachers who were lost.
   The twenty children, in an effort to explain what has happened principally to other children who are still with us, are now being referred to as angels. This seems to be the most hopeful outcome we can have for them. I am blessed with never having lost a child so I don't know how much suffering this angelic declaration alleviates. I suspect it helps, but not much, and maybe not this soon. My own belief is that these children are somewhere now where they will be eternally safe and loved. Perhaps this is not far off from being angels.

   I could have gotten away with not writing anything about this tragedy. I am not sure that anyone wishes to read anything more about it, anyway. Given the prevalence with which it has been in my thoughts lately, however, I would have been dishonest not to address it here, in writing.
   I am posting a picture of the victims, along with their names. This certainly needs doing and perhaps is reason enough for this post. Their killer will be nameless, at least in this forum. This also needs doing.