For what it's worth (Sandy Hook)

When something like the shooting in Newtown, Conn., happens, it triggers a wave of emotions. It also triggers a wave of writing, some good, and some ... um, perhaps "well-meaning" is the right phrase. I won't pretend this is the former, but it certainly is the latter.

1) We are giving far too much weight to the threats of a certain "church" (I won't say its name, because that would give credibility to them. I have a problem with the fact that enough people know its name.) to demonstrate at Newtown memorial services. They don't deserve our outrage or our acknowledgement. The best thing we could do is to ignore them, because their greatest fear is to be irrelevant. And while people I love and respect have expressed a willingness to go to Connecticut and join a human wall in silent protest, that thought, though noble, is acknowledging their existence.

2) For that matter, it never ceases to amaze me how simple Twitter must be to use. Because simple minds can get on there and say anything. Go to deadspin.com and look up "Obama," and check out the reactions to his speech pre-empting Niners-Pats on Sunday night. Again, I don't want to say any more, because that gives these nitwits credibility.

3) Finally, on the topic of social media, its power was on display over the weekend. And that wasn't a good thing (see the above two entries). Yes, there are authentic tributes to the victims already online. But for all the skepticism the news media is greeted with, not to mention the downright inaccuracies in some initial reports, people are so easily willing to hit the "Share" button on a story that may still be sketchy. And again, these are well-meaning (good grief, someone get me a thesaurus before I use that again), but we need the truth. Please, someone check out snopes.com before forwarding that.

4)I also have somewhat of a problem with people calling this a "tragedy." Yes, the deaths of 20 children ages 6-7 (and the adults who died defending them) is tragic. But it was murder. I had the same problem with this characterization of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. 

5) My wife and I talked to our children (8 and 6) about the shooting last night. We did this to prepare them, since we figured they would hear about it at school and we wanted to be their source of information. Plus, we believe in being somewhat straightforward about these things. We also wanted to reassure them, which is tough to do, when you aren't reassured yourself as a parent.  

6) Finally, anyone who immediately turned this into a pro-gun vs. anti-gun debate was really missing the point. Yes, gun laws should be discussed, but so should mental health. There is more than one issue here.  

But here's the greater point: Some people did this in search of answers. And yes, we need an answer to "Why?" above all else. Problem is, there may be no answer(s). We are trying to make sense of the senseless. We are trying to rationalize the irrational. It may be as simple as there are some messed-up motherfuckers on the planet who do things "normal" people won't understand. Which is frustrating, but sadly, true.