I, like most Americans, have spent the weekend trying to cope with the nightmarish events of Friday morning, when a young man took his mother's guns, shot her in the face and then killed 26 children and their teachers.
Personally, one of things that helped me the most was spending time with Rusty the Wonder Beagle. Even though he is very old, blind, deaf and diabetic, he is still full of love and life. He seemed to just know that my wife and I were upset and was abnormally affectionate and just being around him and his unconditional love helped.
My wife and I actually discussed how, if Rusty was younger and able to make that long of a trip, we would have taken him to Connecticut to be a comfort to some of the people who have suffered so much.
It was with happiness that I saw that even if Rusty couldn't make the trip, other
comfort dogs were on their way:
A team of golden retrievers made an 800-mile journey from the Chicago area to Newtown, Conn., over the weekend to comfort people affected by the shootings Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Lutheran Church Charities sent about 10 of the dogs for residents who want to pet them while they talk or pray with the dog’s handler, said Tim Hetzner, president of the Addison, Ill., organization.
“Dogs are nonjudgmental. They are loving. They are accepting of anyone,” Hetzner said. “It creates the atmosphere for people to share.”
The dogs often visit people in hospitals, nursing homes and parks. Each dog carries a business card with its name, Facebook page, Twitter account and email address.
“The dogs have become the bridge,” said Lynn Buhrke, 66, who is a dog handler for a female golden retriever named Chewie. “People just sit down and talk to you.”
I was also very pleased to see that those poor souls were not taken in vain and that even though it shouldn't have taken a tragedy like this, people finally coming to their senses and
getting rid of their guns:
In the aftermath of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, some Americans are turning in their guns as part of local government buy-backed programs.
Residents in New York City, New York, Camden, New Jersey, Baltimore, Maryland, and San Francisco, California, sold hundreds of weapons back to the government no-questions asked, with some attributing their decisions to the Connecticut tragedy.
“After the incident yesterday, it was time to get it out of the house,” Sonia White, a 65-year-old Baltimore County grandmother said. A man in San Francisco explained, “I’ve got kids, man.” “Kids are curious. Kids don’t know any better. I had it locked in a toolbox, so I don’t know. … I just know it had to go.”
Now only if we could get people to realize that such actions are also needed for the kids that are lost every day in the cities from guns.
President Barack Obama also struck the right chords in his speech in the Newtown vigil:
You can
see the complete speech here, with
thanks to MAL.
Sadly, even as the president was reaching out to the good people of Newtown, there was the base side of American who thought that the first quarter of a football game was more important and wanted NBC to "
take that nigger off the air."
And then, just when you thought it couldn't get worse, it does.
As they tried to do in Colorado, the idiots at Westboro Baptist Church are
planning on protesting the funerals of the innocents killed.
But then, out of the Intertubes comes a pair of unlikely cavalries.
Redditors are pledging to also converge on Newtown to form a human blockade and the group Anonymous has done a
docs drop on them, as well as
an enlightening video.
No matter what, there will always be jerks in the world. But it is reassuring to see so many people from so many walks of life finally pulling together again.
It's just so very sad that it took the life of so many innocents to make it happen. It's also so very sad that it doesn't go far enough. It never will until we address the same horrors happening every day in our own cities across the country with our black youth.
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