'Tears today in Connecticut': Residents react to Newtown tragedy

Connecticut residents shared on Friday their reaction to the mass shooting in Newtown. Here's a sampling of their thoughts.

Today, Newtown's kids are everyone's kids: Today, tragedy befell a town 48 miles away from me. Forty-eight miles takes about 40 minutes to drive. But the way those miles and minutes closed up on me this afternoon hit me like a ton of bricks. I do not know their names, these people slain today. I just know that there are 18 children not waking up too early for Saturday-morning cartoons and cereal tomorrow. I know that there are husbands who have lost their wives, wives who have lost their husbands, and neighbors whose houses will be sadly devoid of anyone having ever been there.

My youngest son is 6. He is a first-grader who excels in math, loves dinosaurs and video games, and is truly a light in my two-bedroom apartment. There is not a single part of me that is not touched by him, from pajamas left errantly on his bedroom floor, hearing him whine about not wanting to finish dinner, to those moments where he just tells me, "Mami, you're the bestest!" I don't know what I would do if I couldn't hear that again--couldn't see him get the chance to be the man he deserves to be.

Today, Newtown goes down in bloody infamy. And though they have no idea of who I am, I extend my arms to each and every one of the residents of that neighboring town. Those kids weren't just their kids. They're everybody's kids. Today, the world cries with Connecticut.

-- Desiree Napoleon, Hartford

***

The unthinkable in Newtown: I'm a life-long resident of Connecticut, some 47 miles to the north and east of Newtown--not close enough to hear the guns booming life away from those little children, but close enough to feel the pain and loss of those innocents.

I have 13 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Three of the greats are in elementary schools many miles away from Sandy Hook. They're trusting, wide-eyed, eager to learn and beautiful children--just as were the 18 or more little ones denied their future this morning, just 10 days from Christmas Eve and all of the excitement that comes with that magical night.

I can't bear the thought of what the parents are feeling. I can't bear the thought of what the little souls are feeling as they wend their way to heaven. There is that consolation that they are on their way to a beautiful place without pain and with joy and light.

-- Gail Hoxie, Winsted

***

You can't legislate crazy: Adam Lanza was a crazy person. He must have been. In no sane worldview is indiscriminate and unprovoked murder of innocent children acceptable. Ever. And because of that, there was no way to stop him from perpetrating the most horrendous act ever perpetrated in Connecticut's history.

Crazy people do not concern themselves with the law. They are not constrained by the legality of things. When they are moved to murder, they find guns--easily through legal channels, or difficultly through illegal means.

But they find them. Or they find knives. Or baseball bats. Or homemade explosives. They find a way.

In my town of Stamford, about 40 minutes away, most are reeling from this tragedy. People are trying to understand just what could make a person perform such despicable acts. People are grasping at straws to make sense of the deaths of these innocents and adults--to bring some sense and meaning into these meaningless killings.

-- David J. Kozlowski, Stamford

***

Tears today in Connecticut: I am a librarian assistant at a high school in Storrs. Today's tragedy in Newtown was felt throughout the day--police here were on campus, students were walked to their cars, administrators staged themselves in the main lobby. My mother emailed me all day, keeping me informed and up-to-date. I held back tears many times, not able to stop thinking about this senseless horror. What would I do if it happened here in my Storrs school? What would I be feeling if it was happening at my niece's high school in Beacon Falls?

This catastrophic anger that leads to insane acts such as this needs to stop. We stop it by choosing love over anger? every time. Stop being angry, even slightly, at your spouse, your children, family and friends who have hurt you. Forgive them all and choose love instead. Loving energy will start fueling this nightmare of our world instead of anger. And maybe, just maybe, tragedies like this will become less and less. Please. Stop allowing the anger to win. Choose love instead.

-- Tami Hawley, Storrs

***

Tragedy and questions: As a Connecticut resident who listened to and watched radio and TV coverage of the incident, it reminded me that what happened in Newtown today could very well happen again someday, and not just in Connecticut.

The pain and suffering that the victims' families and friends have felt in the wake of the tragedy is heartbreaking; so is the somber realization that the world has become more dangerous and complex than anyone realized. Somber, too, is the understanding that we may never learn the full reasons behind the shooting rampages that affected Newtown and other locales throughout the world in the past, leaving us with nightmarish images that remain damning today. What lingers, too, is a reminder of what might have been for the countless victims who had so much to live for. We can only hope that someday, such acts of insanity become a thing of the past.

-- John Lavernoich, Winsted

***

Newtown shooting hits home in many ways: I live in Middlebury, a town just 14 miles east of Newtown; I have driven through Newtown many times.

In the past, these tragedies occurred in places hours away, instead of mere minutes.

There are no words to describe today's tragedy.

-- Tim O'Donnell, Middlebury

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tears-today-connecticut-residents-react-newtown-school-shooting-000400999.html

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