Tragedy

About 8 minutes down the road from me is a sleepy little farm town
called Chardon. It's a beautiful little town with an old timey town
square where the Maple Fest is held every March (they are known for
their Maple trees), old victorian homes, farmland, and a great school
system. In fact, both sets of Grandparents of my kids live there and
Bee graduated from there. When we moved two years ago, we almost moved
there. It was a quiet and safe community.

Until today.

At 7:30am two armed kids walked into the cafeateria and fired 5 shots
before fleeing. 5 kids were hurt. 1 is currently in stable condition,
while the other 4 are in critical condition. As of now, both shooters
are in custody.

This rocks my world on several levels. One, I was a senior in high
school when colombine happened. I remember crying in my 8th period
class. So close to summer and graduation and some would never get to
expierence it. Two, as a parent, my heart hurts for any parent whose
child goes there...let alone the victim's parents. Three, as the
parent of a child who is..different...and not "popular" and tends to
surround herself with loner trenchcoat type kids, my heart breaks for
the parents who have to get that call that their child..their precious
baby, caused all this. Especially, in a small town.

However, today's events only futher enforce my belief that we need to
keep score at peewee soccer and football games. Go back to making kids
try out for teams instead of just allowing anyone to play. Give real
grades to kindergardeners. Parents neex to STOP stepping in and
resolving their children's conflicts. Kids NEED to experience
injustice ans unfairness early on because guess what? Life is unfair.
At 18 you are an adult and the world is a brutal place. Kids grow up.
Kids tease. Kids bully. It's natural. I am certainly NOT saying it
should be left uncheckecked, but some is normal and some is ok. It
teaches our children conflict, how to deal with and process it, and
how to get over it. Right now, we are sending them out into a world
without a thick skin and the proper tools to deal.

And then some kid brings a gun to school and shoots up the place.
And we blame the media and musicians.
We are directing the blame to the wrong places....

Do me a favor. Hug your kids extra tight. Love on them and kiss them,
and tell them how special they are.....and tell them "no" from time to
time....even if there is no reason for it.

As Bee tells our 3 all the time, "being fair only means everyone is as
equally miserable"