Saturday, December 15, 2012

My Thoughts Are With Sandy Hook Elementary

I sat down in my car this morning, with my iPod on shuffle, and heard the last lines of Blaine Larsen's "How Do You Get That Lonely?" The country song is about teen suicide but many of the lyrics can be applied to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary. For instance, take the title of the song and simply replace the word "Lonely" with any number of words: "Twisted," "Sick," "Disgusting." How does anyone get to the point in their lives where the answer to their problems is to kill 20 children? Twenty innocent kids whose only thought on Friday morning was that Christmas was a little over a week away and they'd better be on their best behavior for Santa. Twenty trusting kids who left their homes to go to school, like they did everyday, and expected to return in only a handful of hours. Twenty sweet kids too young to even comprehend what happened when the gunman opened fire. And twenty young lives lost way too soon. 

The song asks, " How do you feel so empty, you want to let it all go? How do you get that lonely...and nobody knows?" I don't if the gunman (who doesn't deserve the respect of being called by his name) was lonely or depressed or had any number of other mental illnesses but to commit something so despicable there has to be something seriously wrong. How does this go undetected? Did his family or friends have any idea that something wasn't right with this man? Could he not have sought help rather than commit one of the worst shooting crimes ever?

The lyrics go on to ponder, "Did his girlfriend break up with him, did he buy or steal that gun? Did he lose a fight with drugs or alcohol? Did his Mom and Daddy forget to say I love you son? Did no one see the writing on the wall?" So many questions, so many possibilities. What causes someone to snap? I read this morning that there is new evidence suggesting a motive so perhaps we'll know soon. 

I've always been vocal about my dislike of guns but I honestly can't say that I've done enough research into whether completely banning guns is a good or bad thing. I just wish that they had never been invented to begin with and then we wouldn't have to make this call. But any way you look at it, guns do harm, not good. Their sole purpose is to hurt and kill. I understand that it's the people that make the decision to use the guns but all too often the guns end up in the wrong hands and people get hurt. 

Or in this case, 20 innocent children lost their chance at a bright and promising future.

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