WELL, IT LOOKS LIKE WE’RE STILL HERE….the Mayan calendar winds down and I’m still scheduled to do a show at noon today. What’s that guy in China going to do with his ark?
Back to reality…
NEWTOWN, CONNECTICUT IS NOW FAMOUS. And there isn’t a soul who lives there who wants the attention. Slowly the media will be moving out and leave this beautiful community alone, to grieve on its own. And it is a very nice place. I grew up in my grade school years in the next town over, Brookfield. Fond memories of great people and a family community, a true “Wonder Years” period in my life. Times change all over, but even if Newtown has been experiencing the same isolation of this technology age that has changed all of America for the worse, they are back together again because of the worst, most unimaginable attack on their children and those who taught and loved them.
NO COMPETITION HERE FOR THE DEEPEST WRITTEN PIECE ON THIS TRAGEDY…but there is a point to make, and it’s a simple one. We should now have, at least for an interim, an armed police officer in every elementary school.
I know this was a perfect storm, with a troubled young man with a disorder to accompany his reported Asperger’s condition. His now deceased mother made a strange and dangerous decision to train him on weapons. She had her own demons. This scenario becomes a statistical anomaly and hardly provides a rational foundation for widespread fear at the front door of each, or any of our schools.
But just think about the psychology here. From Newtown to any town in New England and most likely all the country, teachers are broken hearted, nervous and stressed. Ditto for parents of little ones. And too many of our precious cargo are off balance too. To suggest that we have to rely on the data and buck up is just an unacceptable ignorance of the damage done to confidence.
An officer on the campus is enough of a psychological boost. It’s not a tactical plan in and of itself. But it’s a healing step, until real plans are created in the weeks and months to come. We have armed officers in our high schools; they are well rounded and trained for the environment. Same for rotations through our middle schools. We never thought we had to provide the same for the little kids. Well, sorry, now we do.
The complete lack of admission on this point and action from decision makers from Washington, to Smith Hill, to your local city hall is the worst leadership miscalculation and disconnection I’ve ever seen.
AS FOR THE GUN DEBATE…let’s see what the Vice President comes up with in the next 30 days. The feeling of futility is overwhelming from both sides of the argument…but let’s see the plan.
12 DAYS BEFORE WE HIT THE FISCAL CLIFF. It’s not the Mayan end. But I can’t see the deal coming together with the congress off, Christmas and the protocol required for new legislation. So get ready to take home less dough in your paycheck. At least for the first one of the year.
THE PATS WILL BOUNCE BACK, but will my Giants?
Nice touch by the PC Friars the other night, wearing the color green, “Sandy Hook” on the name tags and empty seats symbolizing the lost.
Keeping our neighbors in our prayers, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and New Year.
