FEAR

I WILL NOT BE SCARED.  MY CHILDREN WILL NOT BE SCARED. 

This world is filled with unbelievable tragedy and we saw a numbing example of that this morning.  Our thoughts go out to all of those involved with the shooting in Connecticut today.  All of the strength and courage in the world can not prepare anyone for something as traumatic at this shooting. My thoughts also lie with those who in some fashion have experienced similar harrowing tragedies in the past.  I know that for so many an event like this will bring horrible memories flooding back to the surface, exposing wounds not yet healed. If I could take on some of your pain to ease the burden you carry every day I would do so without hesitation. 

I didn't really know where this post was going when I started.  I just knew I needed to write.  I could discuss gun control and the fact that this sick bastard found access to military grade ammunition for his automatic rifle.  But I won't.  I could discuss the moral dilemma we face every day in our country of having a 20 year-old willing to walk into a school, and gun down innocent human beings. Children. But I won't.

Instead I am just going to speak generally on how I feel finally having a few minutes at the end of the day to process this.

My feelings and my thoughts lay squarely with all of those who must face the horrific reality of these unthinkable crimes.  At Quicken Loans Arena there was an eerie feel all day following the news, including a spattering of brief conversations between co-workers about what happened in Connecticut, and you could see many drowning in their own thoughts, reflecting on their lives and their loved ones. Everyone confused, dumbfounded, shocked, and an almost universal sense of uncertainly on how to process the nature of what happened.  I'm sure many of you in discussing the shooting today at some point heard the question, "What would drive a person to the point of shooting a child, how is it possible?"  I know I certainly did several times.

The pain in my heart comes from thinking about those families affected in Connecticut. Tonight we will all be able to go home and tell our children, mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers that we love them.  Those families, and that community however, will not.  They will be faced with coming to grips with the irreversible reality that a loved one is gone.  That the unthinkable has happened right in their own back yard. There are no words, there are no memorial services, there are no cures that will lesson the magnitude of their pain.  Only time will ease the severity of those permanent scars that this tragedy has left; which I know each and every person in that community will now carry with them for the rest of their lives.  I send you all of the strength, love and positive energy in my body. 

My final thought is what I began this post with:  I WILL NOT be scared.  My children WILL NOT be scared.  To all of you sick-minded, disillusioned murderous monsters out there: You will not intimidate me.  You will not alter the way that I live my life.  EVER.  I will go on living without fear, and my children will be raised to live every day to the fullest.  To experience everything that this wonderful life has to offer.  If at some point I come face to face with one of you, and you threaten my family, my friends, or my community; the only the fear that will be felt is yours. 

Love will ALWAYS conquer hate.  Love comes with strength, honor, courage, compassion, and bravery.  Hate is the characteristic of the simple minded, a pathway to cowardice.  Love will ALWAYS conquer hate.

jab