Think of this post as a place to say or not say what we are thinking and feeling, if we have not gone numb, right now. We work in schools. Our lives are around children. We may choose to read here in the next few days each other’s thoughts on this event. We may choose to contribute something, or we may choose not to read. When there are no words to say, at least maybe some words could be offered anyway, blindly, for no other reasons than to offer them. What balm can we put on this? It is all internal, what is happening now. The thread thus started here today may last just a few days, but it may also last forever. It will last forever. Those kids and teachers really are gone and with them so much else.
Yesterday Sabrina said:
There are no words to express the anguish I’m feeling right now. How is this possible, again??? How many more tragedies can we hear of every day hitting the lives of innocent children? My heart is bleeding right now. I can’t answer the why of this abominable tragedy and I feel like my prayers for this world to heal remain a soliloquy. Please God help those parents who are childless tonight.
Then jen replied:
I agree Sabrina. This is all beyond words. Overwhelming is even a colossal understatement. I purposely avoided media yesterday so that I could try to center myself somehow. I was scheduled to teach yoga last night and was actually afraid of “how to deal with this.” All I could think to do was to bring us straight into breath and dedicate the energy, offering it toward healing.
This morning one of my teachers posted this on facebook, and I think it is a start to how we might continue to move in a direction of compassion:
“When has it ever been more clear that each one of us needs to take a much deeper look into ourselves…? Our whole culture is based on deep misunderstandings on what it means to be human. The sickness is systemic. A completely new world beckons us. Will we move toward it now more decisively? Or will we cling to the older and more secure and familiar values?”
– Govinda Kai
The analogy to what we face in our classrooms seems so clear to me in these words. Sending love and peace to all.
skip added this:
I can only add a tear, Sabrina…. I have nothing else…. Thank you for expressing how I am feeling better than I am able right now…
Sabrina responded to them:
Thank you guys, I think WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS TRAGEDY ON THIS BLOG. NOW… We cannot let the numbness take over and hope we can forget about this. I CAN’T and I am sure none of us CAN. I need to know how in the world I’m going to answer my kids on Monday, how do I not burst into tears when they ask me WHY and I don’t have any answers…. How do we deal with this tragedy, again? How do we STOP this from ever happening again????? If we are teaching real people and not ROBOTS, then we must talk about about this right now and how we can help our kids on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and for the rest of their lives. How can we help those families that are in utter despair beyond words right now..?