Not this time.
This is just too much. I was out the way to the pet store with a friend at lunch time when we heard the news about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. We were caught up in the silliness of our fish-shopping adventure and the grand pet store we found, and I just figured I would get caught up on this when I got back to work.
I got back to my office, loaded CNN on my computer, and froze. There was a video of a child--A CHILD!!!--being interviewed. I logged off and couldn't bear to look at the news again until this morning.
I hate that children have to be interviewed by the police to help their investigation, but I certainly understand the need to do so. They are dealing with enough trauma that will undoubtedly shape their tender brains, and a police interview that asks them to relive something so horrific surely can't help. But it is necessary.
A media interview, though? What kind of media do we have that this is seen as appropriate? I don't care if the parents do give permission. The parents aren't thinking too clearly right now. They probably had some moments of wondering if their children were even alive. I would not assume they are of sound mind at the moment. I find it insensitive enough when Olympic athletes who miss the gold medal by just a hair are interviewed while they still haven't gotten off the field about how they feel. (Really? We can't guess how they feel? We can't wait 15 minutes for them to figure out how they feel and how they want to talk about it?) But this is just too much. The act of asking and interviewing is adding more to the set of experiences these children now have to process.
I just can't bring myself to visit a website or look at an article that might give a news organization the impression that this kind of information is what I want to see.
Thinking about this, though, has hammered even further home to me just who the victims were. And I am still trying to figure out how to process this. My kids are quite a bit older and I am past the stage of needing to protect my babies every moment of the day. I can't imagine the fear and heartache felt by the parent of every young child today.
I've seen images that will haunt me--Jesus holding a child on his lap, the child's arms thrown around him and tears on his cheeks. Santa sitting in his sleigh, now-unneeded gifts spilling out of his sleigh while Santa sobs into his hands. Countless candles and broken hearts. Facebook posts from my friends who have lost children themselves. We are all trying to understand how it happened and how we will go on. We all want to ensure that this will never happen again.
We see renewed attention to gun control. For the record, I want gun control. However, I don't think it will make a bit of difference. There is something wrong with a society that produces individuals who contain the urge to do something so horrific to so many people--especially to children. If not a gun, it could have been a bomb. Or gas in a ventilation system. Or poison in the food. If it isn't a gun, it will be something else. Fighting for gun control is something that helps us feel more in control, like there's something we can actually do to prevent this from happening in the future. But I don't think it is the answer, because there will always be other weapons.
What is wrong with our society that produces people who want to use weapons against other people? And what is wrong with a society that thinks it is okay to traumatize children by interviewing them on the national news? Seriously, what is wrong with us?
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