I don’t want to write anything funny today. I can’t. Over the weekend, I took my Land Cruiser out to the desert to clear my mind, but the pressure in my head still hasn’t let up since Friday morning. The massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School swirls inside me and I cry for the lives lost and the suffering family members left behind. My brain hurts. My body hurts. My heart hurts. Maybe Worm sensed it because this morning he doubled his affection towards me.

It’s a tragedy.  And this week, parents are burying children that didn’t deserve to die. Children that had so much life and so much potential that will forever lay dormant. As a father, It’s difficult to imagine having to bury my own child. I can’t even fathom the pain these parents must feel. It breaks my heart to think about it. This gunman could have meted out his fury anywhere in the country. The next gunman could mimic this monstrosity in my own town. Am I naive enough to think it could never happen to my family? No. So when I hug and kiss my son, I do so with all of myself, because in an instant he or I could be gone.

I have hope that America will change. We need to find value in ourselves and value in others. We must. Otherwise, we will continue to destroy each other. I have hope that one day our anger, hatred, and fears will be overcome by our desire to love. And until that happens, I can only believe in the future of humanity and the idea that people are inherently decent and good. Until that happens, I can only show the people around me that I love and cherish them. And that starts with my family. If we parents don’t show our children love, how can they love themselves? If we don’t teach our children how to love and support one another, how can they grow up to value human life? If we don’t teach our children these fundamental concepts of the human condition, they are emotionally and mentally lost. Lanza was lost.

I’m saddened by the events that transpired on Friday, December 14th. I wish we didn’t have to sacrifice so many lives in order to allow people to see the true spirit of human kindness, compassion, and love. May those that lost their lives forever find peace.

We cannot change the world without first changing ourselves. As Gandhi best put it, we must “be the change we wish to see in the world.” Unless that happens, we will all be lost.

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