Finding Solace After the Newtown Tragedy
Posted on Dec 21, 2012 by Trevor in Religion
As my wife and I wept while we watched the news coverage of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, I felt so frustrated that there probably wasn’t anything resembling an obvious or simple solution to this problem. I also felt deeply pained by the spiritual implications. The theodicy. Why would God let this happen?
One anecdote shared by a journalist that night made an impact on me. So much so that I paraphrased it on Facebook at 4:00 in the morning. Here’s what I put:
Getting stuck behind a loaded school bus on a rural road is often a very frustrating experience because it makes so many stops and moves so slowly. This happened to me just this afternoon, and I was mildly upset because I was in a hurry.
However, today it was different, because I was able to witness firsthand the overjoyous reunion of these children with their parents. Each stop revealed parents who had heard the awful news of the morning’s shooting and who were extra anxious to wrap their arms around their kids–kids who were probably in the dark about the horrific cause of their parents’ exceptional affections.
So while there’s little that can be said that would make a satisfactory answer to today’s devastation, and while there are many parents whose grief will be inconsolable tonight, we can at least take this as a reminder of the importance of being good to our loved ones for the short time that we will have them with us.
It turns out that through the foggy haze of early morning thinking, I mis-remembered the story to a certain degree. Although I like the feel of my own re-telling, I went and looked up the original. This is a transcript from what CBS News journalist Steve Hartman actually said:
I haven’t been able to watch the news most of today, let alone prepare something to say on it. So forgive me if I’m a little shaken tonight.
For me, it’s those pictures of the kids coming out of the school in tears. Those have been just doing me in. I feel empathy, of course. But I’ve got to be honest with you. Most of what I’ve been feeling today is selfish. What if those were my kids? Could this happen at their school? I’m comfortable confessing this because I’m guessing a lot of you have been feeling that same way too. And if you are like me, then you know there’s only one place to find solace.
This is my son George. This was the smile he gave me when I picked him up from school today. On the way home, we got stuck behind a bus. And although normally I hate that—stopping all the time—today there was no other place on earth I would have rather been. I really needed to see this. And judging from some of the hugs I witnessed, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t alone in that.
The last thing I want to say. My wife sometimes gives me a hard time because I like to fall asleep with my boys on occasion. She says they don’t sleep as well when I’m in there. Well tonight, rest assured, I’m gonna be in there.
Finally, here’s the video clip itself. Hartman’s portion starts at 43:41.
