My fellow Monroe residents,
I don’t have to write to any of you and tell you how badly the events of the last few days have changed our area. Truthfully, these past few days have been by far the toughest I’ve ever faced as a parent and certainly as a citizen of this community.
We’ve all read and have heard about how other communities, most recently in Aurora and Columbine, Colorado, and places like Virginia Poly Tech and Northern Illinois University have endured similar bloodshed as to what happened to our neighbors in Newtown. You read about these and they’re so far away that they almost don't seem real. You say to yourself, "Man, that's awful," and then go about the rest of our day. Basically it doesn’t really impact you with the kind of emotional blow to the heart that it should. You're not directly impacted, so you think about it a moment and like I wrote above, you move on with your day. It's sad really; maybe we’ve ALL grown too desensitized to the violence in the world to this point to be as shocked by it as we should anymore; I don’t know.
What I do know is that having this horrific tragedy hit us right between the eyes, at least for me, has been the most devastating emotional blow that I’ve ever faced in my life. I think this kind of a thing changes anyone with any kind of heart at all. Speaking strictly for myself, right now I’m torn between emotional moments of outrageous anger that are followed up by unrelenting sorrow and frankly it feels like this pain will be here forever...
When I read here on Patch that First Selectman Steve Vavrek and others brilliantly were working together for Chalk Hill to be used for our neighbors kids to use to continue their education, it seemed like a little ray of light had pierced through clouds of despair and that maybe, just maybe, there was some hope that these children, who have endured such incredible torment, might be able to start afresh and begin the healing process in a new location.
While they will NEVER forget what they saw or what they've experienced, they will now have a REAL shot at a new beginning.
I’m not sure what day it is that the children of Newtown will start coming to Chalk Hill, but I would like to offer an idea to OUR community and see if it’s something that we could do for them.
I think it would be absolutely an amazing demonstration of affection, love and support for the kids if on the first day they do start coming here, we could get rows and rows of parents and kids standing on the side of the road from Fawn Hollow all the way up to Chalk Hill with signs of support, bouquets of balloons and some wide smiling faces to let these children know that they welcome here; that they're in a safe place and that they are loved by all of us.
Does anyone besides me think this would be a good idea and a good gesture to the children? If it really isn't and it's silly or not appropriate, forgive me. I have two children about that same age at Fawn Hollow and this is tearing me apart inside and I feel powerless and want to do something to help.
If you are interested in doing this, let’s just do it. It won’t take any organizing and planning. Just show up that morning and find a spot and let them see how we feel about them. I know I am going to be there and I hope that as many of you as possible can spread the word and that we can do something special from their first bus until their last. ONE NEW MORNING…
Hopefully we can make a statement that might, even if it’s for only a few moments, put a smile on their faces…
