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This morning I gave my mother and Gracie an extra I love you and hug after I read our morning devotions and said our prayers before I headed off to school. An hour and a half earlier my dad came into my room to kiss me good morning and to pray with me before it dawned on me the events that happened at Virginia Tech yesterday morning. So many times I have told my family I love them just as a force of habit without really stopping and thinking about the meaning behind those three little words. This morning those words meant a whole lot more to me then they have in a while. The hug had more feeling as well.
I cannot even begin to understand the pain and loss the families and friends of the victims are going through right now. One of the young men that reports to my dad in the engineering department of his work place knew one of the victims but was closer to the victims sister. The three of them went to high school together.
I was very shocked and appalled at the shootings at Virginia Tech, saddened by the many deaths, and even more upset when I thought about the many siblings who lost a brother or a sister. I look back on yesterdays tragedies and realize how blessed I am to still have my sibling, Gracie, safe and sound and out of harms way. I can also imagine how confusing this situation might be for younger children. How would you tell a little child about something so tragic? How do you explain it all? In my search to find ways to explain tragic situations to young children I came across a video by PBS’s Mr. Rogers. In the video clip he talks about what his mother said to him to calm his fears when he heard scary news. In the video Mr. Rogers shared that his mother told him to “look for the helpers” during these times. I thought about this and it helped me take my mind off the bad things and focus on all the good people that were there to help. I can think of the police, EMT’s, doctors, nurses, staff and students just to name a few. And still today many more have offered their help for the days ahead. To view Mr. Roger’s complete video on this subject you can go to the “Looking for the Helpers” video.
Gracie is still too young to understand what happened yesterday but as she gets older and she hears scary news my parents and I will remember to tell her to “look for the helpers” in hopes to ease some of her fears. Another important thing we will remember when explaining scary and sad news is to tell her only what is appropriate for her age. The National Institution of Health has a wonderful link concerning how parents can help their children cope with crisis.
Take a moment to give an extra hug to your loved ones and tell them how much you love them.
