Before I start talking, I want everybody to look at this photo shown above. I took close to twenty minutes to choose a picture from the media coverage today that didn’t just show emotion, but painted an emotional and tragic picture. Look at the woman on the left. Shortly after the shooting, she frantically began trying to get ahold of her sister, a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Now look on the right side of the picture. This mother holding her son after what I’m sure seemed like an eternity of uncertainty. 

As I write this, fighting back tears, I realize: this mother was lucky enough to hold her son close. This mother is lucky enough to give her son another hug. This mother is lucky enough to tell her son the three simple words that we often take for granted: “I love you”. The heartbreaking part is that 20 other mothers will not be that fortunate. 20 kindergarten children were gunned down in an absolutely horrific act of violence. To put it in perspective, that’s potentially 40 parents who will struggle through Christmas without their son or daughter at the dinner table. That’s 20 different futures cut short. In addition to the 20 students that were lost today, 6 school faculty members also lost their lives. 

We as humans have experienced pain since the beginning of time. Any loss of life is tragic and awful, but these were 20 kindergarteners. The loss that the community of Newtown has experienced is unimaginable. It’s time that we remember the lives that were lost and help the families of the victims any way we can. 

This post is dedicated to the 26 lives that were ended today in an awful tragedy. You will not be forgotten. They will forever be remembered, and their families are in my prayers.

-Michael

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Heartbreak… It’s perhaps the only problem in life that man hasn’t found a solution to (other than death). I’ve had my heart broken just once at this point. It’s a long, painful process. The only solution that I’ve found is time. Drinking won’t help, cutting won’t help, drugs won’t help. The only possible solution you’ll ever find is time. Time to compose yourself, time to realize that you are able to live without that person. I won’t sit here and type lies, it just wastes both of our time: It will be painful, it will make you want to just lay down and cry. You also will overcome it, and you will do so with the support of your family and your friends. 

Michael

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