Psychotic Ripples From Newtown

The psychotic ripples from the tsunami of Newtown, Connecticut have reached our little valley. My teenager and her friends are afraid of going to school on Friday. There is a rumour that someone is going to go to the school Friday and shoot people. There is no proof of this that I know of, only whisper and innuendo.

It is a frightful tragedy on a score of levels. That children can’t feel safe at school is the greatest tragedy. Add to that the fear of the unknown and the angst reverberating in the heart of kids in puberty. They should be worrying about pre-calc and crummy teachers not the fallout from one brutal act of violence.

We are developing a societal angst about meeting in large rooms. First theatres were frightening places and now the schoolroom. Like an Alfred Hitchcock movie the dread isn’t in what’s actually happening but is in the possibilities that the character won’t survive.

My heart breaks. There’s no simple solution or logical answer. Tonight I pray for grace to triumph and fear to be broken, for children to be safe and feel safe. The initial quake shook us to our core. The aftershocks remind us that the ground we walk on isn’t as safe as we once thought it was. May He make our feet like Hind’s feet…Habakkuk 3:19