Kids Are A Gift

We don’t comment very often on national news, but we make an exception for the tragedy in Connecticut because there’s not a soul in our local communities untouched by the senseless death of 20 innocent children and eight adults. Our thoughts and prayers are with the survivors and the members of their community.

News of the shooting came on Friday as we began preparing this week’s special Christmas edition with all the elementary school kids’ letters and poems to Santa. It’s the most precious publication we do each year.

The news spilled over into the week before many in the world celebrate the birth of a special child and, as Christians believe, this child’s ability to absorb our sins and restore our innocence.

Needless to say we are just as heartbroken as everyone, just as lost for answers as everyone, just as inclined as every- one to look our kids in the eye and see, once again, the gift they represent in our lives.

Last week’s tragedy reverberating around the country makes it even more important for us here to bring our own kids’ thoughts, wishes and dreams into focus this week through our special Christmas edition. We are indebted to the children, teachers and staff of the Waitsburg School District to initiate and coordinate all the pictures and materials for this annual publication.

The letters and poem, unpolished and straight from the heart, make it worth remembering why we try to make the world a better, safer place and why the events at Sandy Hook hit so close to home for all of us.

The town where it happened, Newtown, is a community roughly the size of Walla Walla - safe, quiet and family friendly. Residents of Newtown, a sleepy bedroom community 60 miles from New York City, never thought something like the school shooting could happen in their town just like people here believe how unlikely it would be in our com- munities.

The lone gunman, a 20-year-old man who reportedly had a form of autism, failed to register as a threat for his mental instability just as anyone here could fall through the cracks unnoticed and untreated. Our schools would be just as vulnerable.

We purposely omitted mention of his name, which may seem like an empty gesture because it’s all over the news, but we want to make the point that putting it in print just helps spur interest among other would-be shooters to seek notoriety for their violent acts. It’s a controversial topic in the media, which strive to inform, but we believe we’re better off not to give prospective mass murderers any more reasons to go through with their crimes.

In the aftermath of Sandy Hook, we want to caution against being ruled by fear or panic. But the debate about the causes of such senseless violence is welcome and necessary. The US has one of the worst records for the number of school shootings and gun violence in the western world.

So what is the answer? Stricter gun laws? A much debated ban on assault weapons like the one the shooter is said to have stolen from his mother’s collection? Armed teachers? Metal detectors and armed guards outside the class rooms?

None of us want weapons to fall into the wrong hands., particularly not assault rifles. Yet we need to consider and debate the underlying causes of gun violence as much as we need to find ways to put them out of reach for potential per- petrators of violent crimes.

We need to take another look at the public safety risks of untreated mental instability; the unknown and unsafe psycho- logical effect of certain prescription drugs; and the impact of kids’ exposure to visual violence in games and media.

Preserving kids’ innocence, their spontaneity, their dreams for as long as possible should be our goal because these are the attributes of youth from which we can learn most as adults. Protecting them against any violence, real or imag- ined, should be our rallying cry at this difficult time.

We know parents, grandparents and adults everywhere will find renewed appreciation of our children’s blessings. May you enjoy their presence in your lives more than ever this holiday season.