Tragedy

Yesterday afternoon I received an email to fly the flag at half-mast.  That was how I first heard about the tragedy in Connecticut.

It struck close to home because I volunteer in an elementary school and was discussing the school's security procedures with a secretary the day before.  Entering our school requires ringing a bell and waiting for the office to push a button to release the door.  It doesn't work very well and often takes several tries before I can get in.  The secretary said she sees no real point in it because they let everyone into the office who rings the bell.  Of course they wouldn't if he had a gun, but anyone wanting to kill people would most likely hide the gun until they were inside.

It makes me wonder how this man got into the school this morning?  I also wonder where he began shooting?  Did he pick a particular classroom?

As I drove home I wondered how his parents felt, how they would deal with being the parents of a monster who killed babies? Then I heard he shot his mother first.  Not in the back, or chest, but in the face.  That sounds like a confrontation with unsettling questions all on its own.

I wonder what went on in that house?

This doesn't sound like a kid bullied by classmates, or coworkers.  What went on in his mind that sent him out to shoot five year olds?

No amount of questioning will bring back the dead, but we need to give some serious thought to what preceded this tragedy, because I have a feeling it was even more tragedy, just a quieter, more acceptable sort.