"If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all"

We live in an evil and a corrupt world. In the last couple weeks on the news we've seen a man walk into a mall in Oregon and shot up more than 60 rounds, that killed two people. About a week before that we heard that Kansas City Chief's player, Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend, who was also the mother of his 3 month old daughter, and than drove to the stadium thanked his coaches for what they had done for him and than took his own life. In September, a girl was raped in UNA's parking deck. In Chicago's gangs this year alone there have been 2300 shootings and close to 500 murders. More than Los Angeles and New York combined. In July, a man killed 12 people and injured more than 50 people in a movie theater. And just when we think it couldn't get any worse, it does. I woke up today to the worst of all news stories. A father in his twenties had gone into an elementary school in Connecticut and killed 20 KINDERGARTNERS and five others.

How can a person be that cold hearted? That's 20 children Santa won't visit this year. Twenty children who will never learn the truth about Santa Clause. Sweet innocent babies who will never learn how to color inside the lines, learn how to ride a bike without training wheels, learn how to add or subtract. They will never read a chapter book. Their parents will never have grandchildren. They will never get to see their child graduate from high school, graduate from college, get married, or become parents. Those parents probably had already bought the christmas presents for their sweet children. Now, they will never get to see those huge smiles when those gifts would have been opened on Christmas day.

I will graduate in May and be qualified to teach preschoolers. In none of my classes that I've studied to learn about the development of sweet babies just a little younger than those lives who were taken today, did it ever occur to me to worry about what to do if a lunatic like that man were to walk into my classroom. In looking at potential places to start my career after graduation, I have taken into consideration such things as the price of living; crime rates relating to bank robberies, drugs, and even shootings such as those at Columbine, Northern Illinois University, UAH, and the one on the military base. But, never ever had I thought I would have to fear somebody walking into my classroom and killing the students many parents will entrust to me. 

We should all cherish the Christmas season this year. Most of us will get to see our families and may get to do some traveling this season. We may take our families for granted, they may get on our nerves sometimes. But, at least we have them. This time of year always makes me miss my grandfather, and how fun he made Christmas for the 14 years I got to celebrate with him and the rest of my family.