I’m not sure if this blog will come across as insensitive and I’m hoping it won’t.
After the horrific events that happened in Newtown on Friday I just wanted to say it’s ok to laugh, smile and continue on with life.
I know there are several families that will argue with me at this exact moment and I don’t want to come across as insensitive. I know their lives has been ripped apart and will never be the same and wounds like this will never fully heal.
It’s also ok to be upset, angry and empathetic for the loss that these families have gone through.
I’ve seen what a child’s death can do to a family. I’ve been to the funeral of a child, I’ve sat with the parent who just buried their child. It is the most emotional, sad thing you can ever go through. It rips every ounce of energy and emotion out of your body.
I’ve also seen that no matter how much your world crumbles around you, life still goes on. You still wake up in the morning, you still put your pants on one leg at a time and time doesn’t always heal all wounds however time makes it easier to start laughing again.
Children are also very resilient. We don’t give children enough credit for coping with tragedy. Again I acknowledge that some of these children will be screwed up forever. They will have anxiety, they will cry, however most of them will just pick up and carry on. They will play with their toys, they will look forward to Santa coming, and most of them will grow up ok. I sit and wonder how many of my classmates from elementary school remember our two classmates who died. (They passed from health reasons however, I sat beside one of them in every class. My world crashed at the time but things turned out ok.)
Some deaths are harder to swallow than others. I’m not saying forget these children forever or forget their family and the Christmas they lost and even all the things that they will never do in the future. One of the best things we can do as society is give these people some space. They need to get back into a routine, they need to have the spotlight to turn off and they need to start processing the stages of grieving.
It’s ok for us to smile, laugh and continue with our daily lives.
It’s also ok if it takes longer to move pass the mourning stage. Just remember there is a whole life in front of you that is passing you by and the best way to honour these little lives is to live our lives to the fullest. We need to be kinder to each other, we need to embrace each moment and we need to remember that time is valuable and no one in this life has a guaranteed time on the earth.
Everyone who has spoken about the innocent children has said wonderful things about how they loved life, they embraced life and were happy everyday.
Maybe us adults can learn something from these angels.
