<p>DocT, I have been looking for your update. I am so very sorry.</p>
<p>DocT, so very, very sorry. </p>
<p>I completely broke down when I read the list of names and ages for the first time. It looked like (and could have been) any other first grade class list in the country. I could not imagine how someone could (1) conceive of such an act to begin with, and (2) carry it out when the moment actually came. Okay, this is making me cry again now…</p>
<p>No need to apologize for being sad. We’re all sad, and people who live close to the area would naturally be more affected. </p>
<p>A lot of the expenses for the children’s funerals are being covered by donors:
[Newtown</a> Funeral Director Pasquale Forino Says Sandy Hook Shooting ‘Shakes Your Foundation’](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Newtown Funeral Director Pasquale Folino Says Sandy Hook Shooting 'Shakes Your Foundation' | HuffPost Religion)
Not that money would make much difference to an upper middle class parent whose first grader died, but nevertheless I’m glad the parents have one less worry.</p>
<p>I’m haunted, really haunted when I think of all the mornings in my stay-at-home days, getting the kids ready for school. Remember they days when they dilly-dallied, fought with each other, lost their mittens, forgot a permission slip, didn’t like their breakfast…etc etc. And I sent them out the door with barely a wave, they had irritated me so much. I pray that each and every one of those kids got a heartfelt hug from their mom or dad that morning.</p>
<p>The pictures of the kids make me cry. But I won’t stop looking at them. So beautiful, and they don’t deserve to be forgotten while this animal becomes a household name.</p>
<p>cnp55, I’m glad you started this thread. I’ve been sad, depressed, on edge, irritable, and angry bordering on furious since I learned about this. I’ve also felt guilty about being so emotionally involved when I don’t know anyone who was directly affected. It does help to know that others are having a hard time coping with this, as well. If I lived in the area, as you do, I’d be beside myself.</p>
<p>Reading the names and ages of the staff and children who were killed, seeing their photos, hearing the stories, has been painful. </p>
<p>I think that, for most of us, this event represented a breaking point. We watched in horror as the senseless carnage accumulated. Columbine, Virginia Tech, that 9-year-old girl killed when Gabby Giffords was shot, young children gunned down on the streets of Chicago, etc., etc. An elementary school invasion with the killing of a class of young children, along with their teachers, brought the horror to a new level. Most, if not all, of us have fond memories of our children when they were very young, and of the devoted teachers who gave so much. </p>
<p>I have been inspired by the heroic teachers and school staff. I think we can assume that they came to work every day and did their best, and on that awful Friday they did everything they could to protect their children. If I were a politician engaged in puerile bickering, I think I’d feel that the heroism of these women put me to shame. I think I see a new attitude in Washington. </p>
<p>I remember thinking on Friday that the “fortunate” children would be scarred for life. I think of the holes in the families, the siblings who will grow up with someone missing, the grade that will always be a class short. Even when they graduate from HS years from now, they will be very aware of all the children who didn’t make it. </p>
<p>DocT, my heart sank when I read that your coworker lost his child.</p>
<p>Justamom, I wish that there would be no reporting on the shooter. I’m sure that part of the motivation for these people is the “glory.” I don’t even want to know their names.</p>
<p>I leave the room when he is discussed. I was just remarking to H, I don’t know why the news has to report on “he-who-should-not-be named, the shooter in the Sandy Hook incident…” instead of just “the shooter in the incident”. Same for all these other shooters as well. I bet you can name at least one of the Columbine shooters, but none of the victims</p>
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<p>This. It’s what would have been most noticeable through the years at my kids’ schools and would never go away.</p>
<p>Also, it was so sad to read about some of the funerals, where people were attempting to give a eulogy for a six-year-old. How can you summarize a life that had barely started?</p>
<p>Oh DocT! This is such sad, sad news. 
Maybe it’s all catching up with me, but I am so very sad today.</p>
<p>DocT,
My deepest sympathy to you and colleague.</p>
<p>DocT, my sympathies to your co-worker. I imagine he will need a good long time away from work.</p>
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<p>Thank you NYMomof2 for expressing what I’ve been feeling. I really have no appreciable connection to the events at Sandy Hook, but I have been in a funk since Friday and feel very strange explaining to the people I love why that is. </p>
<p>DocT, I was really hoping for better news for your coworker. I am sure that he or she is aware that there are many out there praying for the families affected by this tragedy, but I cannot imagine what the families are going through.</p>
<p>I too am feeling overwhelmed by the sadness of the event. I too am crying several times a day. The media coverage is just too much. I can’t turn on any media outlet and not be bombarded by it.
I almost wish we could go back to arguing politics and worrying about the fiscal cliff.</p>
<p>I think the media is contributing to the sadness for ratings purposes and with little regard for the victims or the audience who just don’t want to see it or hear it any more.
I haven’t felt this sad since 9/11
I think 2012 has been a terrible year , with two signifiant highlites for me , but significantly more tragedies
It isn’t all about my own experiences , but I have had a higher than normal amount of difficult issues to deal with this year
I did do something today that made me feel better in that it will help several people , but still having difficulty balancing all the emotions
I wish I could go onto my normal internet sites and escape it.</p>
<p>I don’t know if anyone else is also upset by the arguments breaking out over this too . I wish we could come together and heal as a nation instead of the finger pointing and ugliness I see and read.
Hard to feel the joy of the holidays under the circumstances</p>
<p>I too have been on edge lately but not able (willing) to express what I was feeling. My H doesn’t listen to the news. Out of sight, out of mind. I just can’t do that. Seems such an injustice to those who lost loved ones. </p>
<p>I think it’s so hard because it’s so close to Christmas. Who does this? Who does this to first graders. It’s just so unfair. I’m really missing my kids this year. Both are out of college and both will be home but not for long. I yearn for the days I walked them to school and waited for them to come home and tell me about their day. This is so incredibly sad.</p>
<p>Here’s positive news: [Cerberus</a> to sell Bushmaster gunmaker after Newtown shooting - Dec. 18, 2012](<a href=“Cerberus to sell Bushmaster gunmaker after Newtown shooting”>Cerberus to sell Bushmaster gunmaker after Newtown shooting)</p>
<p>Hugs to all–it is so hard for everyone to figure out where we go from here. I cannot imagine the horror for the children and families and we are over 5000 miles away. All the lives which have been scarred by this monster and others like him.</p>
<p>I still remember that in times of trouble and stress, our D would fondly recall her early pre-school years and find them comforting. Unfortunately, these Sandy Hook survivors and their family will not have such happy memories to draw upon.</p>
<p>I am limiting my media exposure–it’s just too much.</p>
<p>Hawaii lost it’s senior senator, Dan Inouye yesterday as well. It is a very tough time, as he was much beloved and was Hawaii’s voice in DC for over 50 years.</p>
<p>DocT–i join the others in sending heartfelt thoughts and prayers your way. Was really hoping for better news for your co-worker…I just am speechless at the senselessness of it all. So sorry.</p>
<p>I’m in New Jersey. We almost moved to Weston, CT once about 8 years ago. I remember touring the area with realtors and thinking it was just so amazingly perfect for raising children.</p>
<p>Here’s how I’m feeling – I’m mad at myself for breaking down and crying so much because I’m not one of the parents who just lost a darling child and I feel sort of strange and voyeuristic as if the media has stuck me straight into something that should be deeply private and sacred for families to grieve in peace. And yet I do cry. And then I just feel weird about it.</p>
<p>And as I suspected and dreaded I am now finding myself having to also grieve for the mom of the murderer and even for him. I fear this will be so terribly hard because their are only victims here, no easy blame target. I think we all want something easy to blame.</p>
<p>I too have been struggling with being upset and depressed over this, although I have no direct connection to the tragedy - and feeling guilty about being so upset. I think it’s a bit harder for those of us who work in a school (although I don’t work in an an elementary school) because its so REAL to us - we’ve all been thru the lockdown drills. We all know and work with people like this principal and these teachers. </p>
<p>But today I came across this Letter to the Editor of the Boston Globe. It put me in a mindset that I think is healthier:</p>
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<p>DocT - I am so sorry. </p>
<p>I continue to pray for all affected.</p>