We Tell Our Children There Are No Monsters

I haven't posted in a really long time, including just about the entirety of the presidential election. But really I had to say something now if only to begin to purge myself of some of the mental and emotional bile which has built up since then and especially after yesterday's massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.  Given the chance I'll likely expand on this topic a bit and get back into addressing other topics of my interest.

Yesterday morning I had news on as I went in late to work only briefly between playing my own music when I heard there had been an incident in Connecticut. After that I wasn't connected to any media until the early evening as I spent the entire afternoon with my colleagues from work at our annual holiday lunch (a substantially liquid affair). When the fog cleared and I went home so I could be there before my kids went to bed, I heard the details of what had happened and wondered whether the kids (2nd and 3rd grade) knew. It seems they didn't. I spent a good portion of the night looking over what my friends had posted and the assorted expected debates that erupted amidst the horror. I eventually came upon a piece written that day by  friend and truthout.org  editor William Rivers Pitt "An Armed Society Is a Polite Society..." in both its original and Buzzfeed versions. Crystallized my thoughts perfectly and I will continue to pivot from the concepts, so real against the abstraction which represents the perspective of those who would reject it. I managed to get a decent night's sleep next to my love with my children asleep together nearby. this morning I've kept up with some more of the noise, got involved in some of it, all while serving breakfast of homemade pancakes (chocolate chips in there for the kids) and bacon (makes daddy happy, no makes us ALL happy). When I finish making this blog post, I'm taking them out for a first bike ride on the new bikes I just bought them this week for Chanukah. It's 75 where I am now as we in south Florida are experiencing the nicest summer we've had in years. We tell our children there are no monsters, but we adults know there are. Watch for them if you can while you enjoy life and share it with love. Teach peace by living it.