Godspeed

Today, something appalling and unbelievable happened.  A young man entered an elementary school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut and made a decision to murder twenty little children and eight adults with a rifle and handguns.  These children were babies.  Chances are that they had all written their letters to Santa and it's very likely that most of them were yet to give their first baby tooth to the tooth fairy.  But a young man, barely out of his teens, made a decision that would have catastrophic effects on their families, their friends and the community, even the world at large.

I am open and frank in my disapproval of a nation who openly defend the right of the people to keep and bear arms which was first used in the text of the United States Bill of Rights.  I personally do not believe that owning a gun is necessary or required of any citizen of the United States or any other country.  Guns may not kill people directly, but the use of them by people definitely does.

This was brought home in the most personal and breathtaking manner by a tweet which I read in my timeline from a US food blogger known as Farine.  Her beloved grandson Noah was murdered in that massacre today and leaves a twin sister, adoring parents, grandparents and many people who loved him and who wonder why such a thing could happen to a little boy.

Tonight my heart aches for Farine, her family and the families of everybody affected by this day.  I leave you with this song and I think of our own nephews and nieces : Cian, Jamie, Ethan, Alicia, Aaron, Lucy, Grace, Emmie & Fintan who we love dearly.