USA Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut Shootout - 26 Killed

[namjiwankaur]

Sat Nam _/|\_

In Newtown, CT, there was a shooting this morning in an elementary school. At this point, 20 children (apparently many were kindergartners) and 8 adults. Some died trying to protect the children.

Please say prayers.

Huffington Post article:

Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting: Newtown, Connecticut Administrators, Students Among Victims, Reports Say

NBC News:
Elementary school massacre: 27 killed, including 20 kids, at Connecticut school

Nam Jiwan

 

[spnadmin]

re: Shooting in Connecticut

As the news comes in on this, it is so sad. The principal, who was killed is raising 5 daughters, 3 adopted. She had just installed a new security system.

Them other of the shooter is reported by CNN to have been a teacher at that school. According to CNN was found dead in her home in that same town, Sandy Hook.

We will be hearing a lot about this. The story will change, the numbers will change. Nothing changes the fact this is a tragedy. Thanks for posting.

 

[Luckysingh]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

This is a very sad and terrible event. All of us parents who have kids in elementary, know and feel just how disturbing this is.
I saw the President make his statement at midday here and it was very moving and bought tears to both me and my wife.

I just don't know what to say, it is devastating.
Although we don't accept or follow any concepts of ''Hell'', it is at times like this that I honestly hope and wish that there is such a 'Hell' and the killer rots in there.

 

[Ishna]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

It's very sad. It was a primary school for crying out loud.

And it's incredibly insensitive that some jerk can say it's because American schools don't pray, read the bible, or have the ten commandments in their schools anymore.

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/conte...se-hes-gentleman-who-doesnt-go-where-he-not-w

Fischer said that God could have protected the victims of this massacre, but didn't because "God is not going to go where he is not wanted" and so if school administrators really want to protect students, they will start every school day with prayer.

 

[Kanwaljit.Singh]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

People like these have no clue what God wants...
And we are in a world where people hate theists.

The tragedy was more shocking for it happened in a really small town, with just 3-4 cops. And in comes this gunman making it a war front.

What broke my heart was that it is 10pm and the bodies have still not been retrieved from the area. Think of the parents, still waiting in the home that their child might still be alive.

 

[Archived_Member16]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

Our thoughts, prayers and unconditional love go out
to all the victims, families & loved ones of the
Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.
May Waheguru Ji bless all the departed souls
with eternal peace and love !

Harbhajan S. Sangha​

 

[Archived_Member16]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

The Monitor's View

Newtown shootings: What to say to ourselves

The Newtown shooting of 20 children and 7 adults may be the strongest reminder that each individual must find ways to help end these kinds of mass slaughter.

The mass shooting of children, teachers, the principal, and others at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., has evoked strong emotions in Americans – a mix of anger, fear, and hopelessness. President Obama wiped away tears at a press conference as he expressed his own grief over the tragedy.

But one of the most common reactions may be this: How can we end this type of gun slaughter?

Mr. Obama alluded to this response in his remark: “We’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.”

Part of the answer lies in better security in institutions like schools, better detection of potential shooters, and a tightening of laws on gun ownership. Each person can take responsibility for ensuring more reliable protection of the innocent.

But beyond taking public action, the ultimate solution lies in each individual understanding that these shooters act out of the same anger, fear, and hopelessness that their violence evokes in us.

We cannot afford – as individuals or as a society – to keep mirroring their motivating angst.

The best antidote is to embrace the opposite of those thoughts and feelings. These include empathy, calmness, mercy, hope, and openness, all of which have as much substance to deter killings over time as do metal detectors in the moment.

Historians have documented a long decline in violence as societies have adopted the ideals and qualities that bring harmony in relationships. This does not mean simply being nice. It requires a commitment to seeking justice when someone has been wronged, being contrite when we have done wrong, and offering forgiveness to those who admit their wrongs.

Forgiveness may be the hardest. Yet it is effective in altering a person inclined to harm others out of revenge or hatred, and even to end cycles of revenge between entire peoples.

America saw a stunning example of forgiveness in 2006 after a gunman killed five Amish girls in Nickel Mines, Pa. The Amish families of those killed went to the home of the gunman’s widow with flowers, food, and hugs.

Obama’s comments after the Newtown killings reminded us what to embrace after a tragedy. The Newtown community, he said, “needs us to be at our best as Americans, and I will do everything in my power as president to help, because while nothing can fill the space of a lost child or loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those in need, to remind them that we are there for them, that we are praying for them, that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their memories, but also in ours.”

source: http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary...14/Newtown-shootings-What-to-say-to-ourselves

 

[namjiwankaur]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

Sat Nam _/|\_

What broke my heart was that it is 10pm and the bodies have still not been retrieved from the area. Think of the parents, still waiting in the home that their child might still be alive.

I was talking to someone last night about how cold and alone it made it feel for the children's bodies. I know they no longer inhabit their bodies, but just imagining a room filled with 5 year olds shot to death is so overwhelming, even for me, as a complete stranger. Imagine the moms and dads, grandmoms, granddads...all unable to hold their children.

I will share a prayer:

Oh, dear God.
Oh, Mother of all children,
even You cried with us today,
but still You say, "Feel me here,
in the midst of every prayer."

Though we know You are holding these babies,
we wish they were still here,
sleeping in their own beds,
parents kissing their foreheads.
May their moms and dads
feel You Rocking them
in Your Wide Lap tonight.

Hearts do not separate.
Heaven will not take them away.
Love them, knowing their souls
find eternity and now
they are resting peacefully
surrounded by Your Lullabies,
not far away, always nearby,
in the hearts that hold them still.

Your Voice, so sweet, is sprinkling stars
wherever a child's world seems dark.
You are there, Mother, Your Light guides
these little angels whose parents mourn.

In heaven, night is gone.
In heaven, their laughter goes on.
These souls will watch over us forever more.
Its ok. Oh, mothers and father, let your tears fall,
but know that your babes have found paradise beyond the stars.

 

[Archived_Member16]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

Published on Psychology Today (http://www.psychologytoday.com)

Talking With Children About the Connecticut School Shooting

By Eileen Kennedy-Moore, Ph.D.
Dec 14 2012 - 2:21pm

I knew something was wrong the second I saw my husband’s face. He was fighting back tears. “What is it?” I asked, urgently. When he hesitated, I said “Tell me fast!” as I tried to hold off imagining every awful thing that could have upset him so deeply. He told me about the shooting this morning at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT: 26 people dead, including 20 children.

My first reaction was pure horror—So senseless! So cruel! So profoundly wrong!—then a selfish, but heartfelt prayer of thanks that my own children were safe, followed by gut-churning sadness for the parents whose children wouldn’t be coming home this afternoon and for the children and teachers and families who witnessed this tragedy and whose lives will be deeply affected by it.

Because I’m a mom, I thought about how I’d talk to my children about this tragedy. Because I’m a therapist, I also thought about how this event would affect some of my most anxious clients, particularly one little girl whose awareness of world events far exceeds that of her agemates.

Children understand death in different ways at different ages. Three- and four-year olds see death as temporary and not personally relevant. Young grade school children understand that death is permanent but don’t believe they will die. They may find symbols of death frightening. Around age nine, children grasp that they too will die someday. Some respond by being extra cautious, while others become daredevils. Teens are capable of abstract reasoning and may enjoy philosophical discussions about life and death, good and evil, but if tragedy strikes too close to home, they may revert to more concrete ways of thinking.

Here are some things you may want to keep in mind when talking to your child about the Connecticut shooting.

- Start wherever your child is. Children may misunderstand adult conversations or get inaccurate information from peers. Hearing about the shooting repeatedly may make young children think it’s happening again and again. Ask your child, “What have you heard?” This may give you the opportunity to clarify or reassure. For instance, you may need to explain that the shooter is not in your backyard, that the shooting is over, or that school shootings are (fortunately) a very rare event.

With young children, especially, keep your explanations short and factual. Emphasize that they are safe. Don’t be surprised if you see drawings or imaginative play about the shooting. That’s children’s way of controlling and making sense of their experiences. These activities can present opportunities to talk with your child. On the other hand, you may see nothing if your child doesn’t view the shooting as personally relevant.

Follow your child’s lead about how much to talk about the shooting. If your child doesn’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. You don’t have to push it.

- Be careful what you let your child see. There will be nonstop media coverage as this event unfolds. It’s probably impossible to prevent all but the youngest of children from hearing about this event, but use your judgment about how much and what kind of information your child can handle.

Consider both content and immediacy. Immediacy means how “in your face” information is. Hearing a trusted adult calmly say that there’s been a shooting is less immediate than reading a detailed description of the shooting, which is less immediate than seeing photos of the children who died, which is less immediate than seeing video footage of a grieving parent sobbing as she talks about how her child suffered and died. Most children could tolerate hearing about the shooting, even though it’s frightening, but few could tolerate the video footage, nor is there any benefit in exposing them to such vivid information.

- Take care of yourself. Children are magnets for emotion, so they’re likely to pick up on adults’ fear, sadness, horror, and anger about this event, even if they don’t fully understand what’s going on. In order to be able to take care of your child, you need to take care of yourself. Reach out to a friend, family member, or spouse for comfort. Watch your own level of media exposure. Get enough exercise, rest, and healthy food. And if you find yourself acting irritable or tense, reassure your children that they’re not the cause.

- Keep things stable and predictable at home. Routines are comforting to children. While it might be tempting to keep your children constantly by your side in the aftermath of a tragedy, it sends them an important message about your confidence in their safety if you allow them to continue their normal routine about school or daycare, meals, baths, and bedtime. Of course, some extra hugs won’t hurt.

- Find child-size ways to take action. Most of us feel better when we can do something about a problem. If your child seems preoccupied with the shooting, you might want to help your child come up with some way to take action. This could involve saying a prayer together, sending a card or letter, signing a petition, raising money for an appropriate charity, or even just spending extra time with loved ones.

- Talk about values. When tragedy strikes, it can derail us, but it’s also a call to be our best selves. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate and talk about our deepest values with our children, especially courage and compassion.

source: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...-the-connecticut-school-shooting?quicktabs_5=

 

[Parma]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

So Sad and sorry to hear what is going on in the world. People fight for money, for power for greed how about fighting to give humanity some common sense! Where is that war! Not a religious war, but a war of peace, it is a shame that even the war of peace has shed blood in the past, just like some of the great teachers of life did for humanity nobody should break the peace as peace is above all. Men fight and destroy and think they are great. Nothing great is achieved by these means! The peace is coming too you wether you accept it now or with time. The great peace death. Time then becomes to late for you to realise you really are not that great. Only the peace is great. Where is the compassion. Animals even care for their own. Look at a herd of elephants when a lion goes to attack the herd stand together to stop the attack yet as humans we stand and watch while others care for nothing!

 

[Kanwaljit.Singh]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

I was just reading about No Country For Old Men movie the other day.

It is about an ageing Sheriff who comes face to face with reality of not being able to confront the unstoppable evil that has come to his town!

 

[TigerStyleZ]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

So this is a new trend?

 

[Brother Onam]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

WJKK WJKF,
In the aftermath of this massacre, just as in the aftermath of previous mass shootings, there is much discussion and soul-searching. Most of the discussion breaks down into: we need to regulate guns better and ban assault weapons to prevent these killings, or: we need more guns so that responsible people are able to put up a defense next time some madman decides to attack innocents. These positions will be debated on and on. What will be much less addressed will be the core issue.
We have chosen a 'culture' that plays ultra-violent video games for amusement (I remember seeing a soldier being interviewed immediately after a bloody attack on Iraqi militants, and he said, still grinning and out of breath from the thrill:'it was just like Mortal Kombat!'), we watch 'torture-porn' movies like "Saw", which are ever popular, we eat McDonalds and other 'foods' from death-factories, we walk around, pants falling off and underwear showing, celebrate and parade sodomy and deviance, emulate and reward stupidity, greed and ignorance like Lil Wayne and Drake, a whole generation that is helpless without some electronic handheld device to deal with reality. We devote the king's share of our economies (in the face of abject poverty) to a massive Military Industrial Complex, as well as selling arms to any takers globally to facilitate much warfare at our profit, and we 'eliminate' people deemed enemies globally by blowing them up with Hellfire missles from invisible drones in the sky.(while we mourn the children dead in Newtown, let us not forget nine little boys killed from the sky in Afghanistan while gathering firewood in March, they were no less precious), our children are utterly divorced from the Natural Creation and all its cycles.
And then we are shocked and surprised when one of them starts acting psychotic.
In the scriptures it says: Har has placed the human soul into the cave of the body and blew the breath of Life into the musical instrument of the body.
We are living souls by His breath, and our breath and heartbeat are in vibration with Har Har's mercy; we must surround ourselves with Life, eat living foods, speak living words, hear living sounds and show forth our inheritance in Waheguru, and show forth our gratitude for the breath of Life He saw fit in His will to place in us.
When we deviate and violate the most basic needs of the living human being, the only thing that can -and increasingly will- result is violence.
Peace and guidance to all His Sikhs.

 

[Admin]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

So this is a new trend?

This is 62nd such shooting in last 30 yrs in US and this has suddenly picked-up... 7 such shootings in 2012...

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map?page=2

 

[namjiwankaur]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

I bow to Your True Identity _/|\_

we need to regulate guns better and ban assault weapons to prevent these killings, or: we need more guns so that responsible people are able to put up a defense next time some madman decides to attack innocents.

Its not the guns. Its the hearts of humanity that need to be "regulated" to prevent killings like this. I'm sure you heard in China, the same day, a man went in and stabbed over 20 children in a school.

Like I said to someone this week, its not the guns. Our bare hands are lethal weapons, too, if we intend to use them to harm someone.

We also need to address what is happening in our societies that creates these acts of violence. What is ailing in our society that we are so disrespectful of other beings? And inevitably it escalates and violence creates these horrific tragedies.

Nam Jiwan swordfight

 

[Gyani Jarnail Singh]

Actually the Most potent weapon used to HURT is the HUMAN TONGUE....and now in the Internet State of the Global Village..its the COMPUTER KEYBOARD and Uploading of Videos.
These two weapons are OUT of CONTROL....and out of regulations...like a forest fire sweeping the continents...mundahugkudihug:interestedkudi:

 

[linzer]

Re: Shooting in Connecticut

I bow to Your True Identity _/|\_



Its not the guns. Its the hearts of humanity that need to be "regulated" to prevent killings like this. I'm sure you heard in China, the same day, a man went in and stabbed over 20 children in a school.

Like I said to someone this week, its not the guns. Our bare hands are lethal weapons, too, if we intend to use them to harm someone.



Nam Jiwan swordfight

Yes it's guns, automatic and semi automatic weapons to be specific. These type of guns are designed with only one intention in mind, to kill the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of time. They are designed for the military use. Police shouldn't even have them. Remember when police were called peace officers? Now there just the local military. Saying that these types of guns are not a problem is absolutely absurd.
Sure the guy in China stabbed those kids but they a still alive, unlike the kids in the States. Sure the problems that are causing this are much deeper, mainly the corporatization and subsequent dehumaniztion of the States and China as well. But we have to start somewhere and with concrete action. We need to put aside the sound bite mentally and have real dialog.

 

[namjiwankaur]

Gyani ji

I agree about how painful words can be.

Actually the Most potent weapon used to HURT is the HUMAN TONGUE....and now in the Internet State of the Global Village..its the COMPUTER KEYBOARD and Uploading of Videos.

These two weapons are OUT of CONTROL....and out of regulations...like a forest fire sweeping the continents..

Linzer ji

I do support strict gun control as a pacifist. I don't know much about guns, but I heard semi-automatic guns are given to rangers in case a polar bear comes after them.

When I was growing up, my father had two guns. He didn't hunt. He didn't go to shooting ranges or anything. But I remember seeing them in the closet in my parent's bedroom. And I am still easily traumatized when I hear about guns because my father in his rages would threaten to kill us with his guns or stab us with the kitchen knives a few times. I think he just liked to bloat up his ego by making himself dangerous. Ugh. I typically don't share this, maybe I'll end up deleting this. Its strange that I feel it should be kept a secret. They are my father's sins not mine.

Nam Jiwan mundahug

 

[Luckysingh]

The fact is that gun problem in the US is it's own creation!!
I don't think that the majority of people realise just how many weapons were created by the US and Russia starting from the days of Reagan.
Does anyone realise how AK-47's started showing up on the black market in LA ?
It's because these uzis had been mass produced and there are millions of them still in storage. The organisations who were made to produce them by the goverments are still sitting on these with no return for their money. Sadly, the only choice they have to get some money from this dead investment is to sell them to the warlords and black market.
If the US had taken FULL responsiblity for this mass production and paid the people that were contracted in order to confiscate the extra productions, then we would never have had this problem.

I cannot see too much difference even if firearm laws get tighter. There are still going to be guns available on the black market, infact the black market booms in places where state laws are tighter!

The US clearly knows and undertstands that they can never win this war on guns, because it is simply too late now. Both US and Russia produced these like spare candy in order to establish power over the world.

 

[namjiwankaur]

Sat Nam _/|\_

Lucky ji

because it is simply too late now.

I'm wondering if you can elaborate more on why you believe it is too late?