it made my stomach ache

I wrote this in 2012. I was going to write my feelings about the Texas school shooting, in 2022, and realized I had said what I wanted to say 10 years ago. And maybe that is the greatest failure of us all, me included, the fact I have to say the same thing 10 years apart about guns, schools and children. I will end with the same thing I end this piece with: we just need to be better for our children.

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Were you scared? “well … it made my stomach ache”

8 year old survivor Connecticut shooting

Well.

I was going to post one of my typical flippant smart ass thoughts today, but my stomach aches too.

20 children dead.

20 frickin’ children.

These children are our children.

A shooting at a Connecticut elementary school left 27 people dead … 20 children.

Look. I understand that there are bad people. And that bad people do terrible things.

I do.

Well.

Maybe I don’t.

Because … why children?

8 to 10 year olds.

What did they ever do to deserve this?

One officer said “a mind numbing amount of empty shells.”

Another officer said “worst thing I have ever seen in my career.”

I do not know how you could ever prepare for this.

How can anyone be prepared for 18 children bodies’ lying on an elementary school floor.

How can anyone make sense of it? Parents, police, any responsible adult. Even children.

20 children’s parents sit alone with empty thoughts – grieving.

149 million parents go home tonight in the United States to give their child a little extra tight hug tonight.

And all of us, all 250 million of us adults, should take a moment and thank our teachers because the stories of the teachers strength & fearlessness in this tragic event is awe inspiring. The teacher who led her children out of the class telling them not to be scared because “it is big animals making noises” as they went to safety.

Well.

I could only dream about having the presence of mind to do such a thing. One teacher even led the children out having them hold hands and avoid looking at the bodies on the floor. For all the shit we give teachers this is a true reminder where their true passion & soul resides — with the sanctity of our children.

Regardless.

The president said: “These children are our children.”

I say “they were our future.”

A little of our future dies when a child dies.

And some asshole stole some of our future from us.

Some asshole with a gun in a country with far too many guns and far too easy access to those guns.

Anyway.

I will admit.

If he hadn’t shot himself, I would have been the first volunteer to shoot the bastard. With his own gun.

Yeah.

I would.

I don’t believe in revenge. I don’t believe in “an eye for an eye.”  But he stole not only those lives he stole something from each and every one of us. A piece of our future.

Anyway.

The president said: “Our hearts are broken today.”

Well.

My heart is broken today.

My stomach aches.

It is a sad sad day.

We are better than this this. We are a better country … we are better people. When all is said and done … we just need to be better for our children.

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note: after a different shooting I actually offered solutions: a gun, an individual and society.

Written by Bruce