We've been sitting at the computer,
almost all day, trying to figure out what is going on at home. We
have family, friends, and former classmates and teammates who live
and work in Newtown. There are so many questions that may never get
answered. You think, “How could this ever happen here?” Maybe the
biggest question is “Why?” It's so difficult to see and hear
about places we grew up near on national television- that darn
flagpole, and the $2 movie theater, and the diner everyone went to
when ours closed- and then listening to the President talking about,
and knowing where, Newtown, CT is.
Our mom sent us a text yesterday
morning, as she was shopping in Newtown, asking us if we had heard
about a shooting at an elementary school. This was right before I
left to go into a 4th grade classroom, here in Olympia, for the day.
At lunch, another teacher asked if I had heard about it. At that
point, I didn't realize the massiveness of the event, and spent the
rest of the time trying to comprehend what had happened.
As I sat in a classroom on the other
side of the country, all I could think about was those children who
will never get a chance to grow up. They won't go out on their first
date, have a first kiss, or, get married and have children of their
own. They'll never get the chance to score the winning goal, have
another first day of school, make the honor roll or go to college.
There are parents who will never see their children open up those
Christmas presents. They won't see them grow up into beautiful young
men and women. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the children
and their families and friends.
As teachers, we go through the drills,
just in case. You hope and pray that nothing will ever happen like
that in your school. We practiced an earthquake drill out here in
Washington yesterday, and all I could think of was, this could be so
much different. What would I do if this was real? I'd like to think
that I would do exactly as the teachers at Sandy Hook did: protect
the children, no matter what, and be able to help those students who
were sad and confused. Our thoughts and prayers are with the friends
and families of all of the adults who were true heroes yesterday.
As much as you want to hate the man who did this, you also need to remember that the family also lost their mother. They're in our thoughts as well.
Growing up one town over, Newtown was
always our biggest rival. Our schools had the “7-Mile Challenge”
and the football teams play every Thanksgiving Eve. Now, we have to
forget our differences and come together to help the community. We
may not have the best things to say about Connecticut, but it will
always be home. It makes us proud to see how the people
of Monroe and the rest of Connecticut, and the country, are rallying
together to try to help make this time a little easier for their
neighbors.
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