Sandy Hook PSA

Note: I have revised item #3 after reviewing some of my research data, obtained from the Sandy Hook School website.

I have decided to veer away from my Christmas blogging to share something I think every human being needs to see.

For those of you who may not know, on December 12, 2012, a young man opened fire on students and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut. He ended up killing 20 students aged six and seven, and 6 staff members before killing himself.

These kinds of tragedies don’t just affect a city, a state, a country, they rock the world as a whole. I remember seeing the aftermath on our Canadian news and crying. I cried more when tuning into The Voice the coaches and contestants sang “Halleluiah” amidst 26 lit candles. Each person held a card with the name of a victim (video at the bottom of this post).

The following video was produced by a group of parents of the fallen children to try to raise awareness of how just how easy it is for an at-risk individual to slip into the cracks. Please take a moment to watch it all the way through.

I wanted to share this video for a couple of reasons.

1. The obvious reason is just the power in the message that we don’t always see what is right in front of us.
2. I was also struck by the fact that this was put together by parents of the children who died. They chose to do this to help stop this from happening again. I am sure it was difficult “reliving” it again. I commend them for that.
3. In researching this I went to the Sandy Hook School website. They closed the original school after the shooting and relocated the students to another school while the new Sandy Hook School was being built on a new location. I was amazed at all the things they are doing there – special guests, sending a t-shirt into space, Skyping with penguins. Life is going on four years after the shootings, which is good. Sometimes a tragedy of this magnitude can make it difficult to pick up the pieces and go on. However, I am sure that the incident will never go away in their hearts.

So, thank you to the parents for this reminder and may it help to keep this from happening again.

Lydia!