Innocence – Will it return?

The cow jumped over the moon drawing by BZTAT
“The Cow Jumped Over the Moon” drawing by BZTAT

Fairy tales and whimsy. The wonder of learning new things and enjoying the travails of the imagination. These are the things that we want for our children at the tenderest ages.

It is not to be on some days.

The sound of gunfire and screams screeched across the PA system of one elementary school in Newtown, CT yesterday, leaving not only the students horrified, but a nation reeling with a collective shattering of innocence.

Twenty of those innocent lives were taken in one moment along with their principal and others who sought to protect them. Thankfully, no more than ten children were lost, but still, that was twenty too many.

We have seen this drama before. Mass shootings have become commonplace of late in our country. The youthfulness of the victims and the bucolic nature of their community makes this tragedy different, though. It is not only a loss of life. It is a loss of belief. We all want to believe that children can live and grow in wonder and imagination. It is hard to hold onto that belief right now.

Will that belief ever return?

I always sign off with “Life is an Adventure!” Today the adventure has taken us down a dark road. My hope is that the adventure soon finds light and healing and renewed belief in the best of what life can bring.

It has to still be here. It HAS to.

BZTAT