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December 16th, 2012
11:38 PM ET
Teacher: Sandy Hook is a tight-knit group
Janet Vollmer's former students and colleagues died in the Sandy Hook shooting. She calmed her class during the gunfire.
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Post by: Anderson Cooper Filed under: Connecticut School Shooting |
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I am the mother of a Bipolar 2 daughter age 26. She is now under the care of a physicians but at the end of this month her insurance runs out because of her age. I am beginning the process to get help from the social services this week. I am going to keep a log on what the process is and keep you informed as to what I have to do to keep her mental health and make sure she never hurts anyone. We have guns and I am willing to turn them in. No one with a child of mental illness should own a gun stored safely or not. Local police depts should offer that service right now.
My deepest condolences and prayers to the families and friends of the children and their educators which were so tragically taken from us on Friday in Newtown. I do not usually watch Piers Morgan but last night's show was good journalism and a thoughtful intelligent interview where all guests were treated with respect and allowed to express their views. I hope that this new trend continues. I was however horrified by the comments concerning guns and video games by two of these guests, one of which is a mental health expert.
We are indeed living in a culture of violence which has taken decades to create. Our pop culture, media (including the news), entertainment (music lyrics, movies, video games etc.) all have played a strong role in creating this and continue to perpetuate it. Simultaneously there has been a steady disintegration of the family unit, as well as basic values and morals; and those who support these (as well as religion, especially Christianity) are portrayed and ridiculed as ignorant, out of date, out of touch, and irrelevant.
We as a society have put our personal freedom above everything else, including the welfare of our fellow citizens. Freedom carries with it responsibility. We are responsible for our actions and words to those around us and anyone that they may affect. Instead of celebrating hurtful behavior let us try to elevate society. Yes, this can be done without affecting ratings or losing the opportunity to make millions or billions of dollars.
Let us all rally around President Obama and support him in his efforts he stated yesterday in his speech at Newtown. Let us assist him, and not allow politics, or big business/interests to curtail his efforts. If we all work together and as individuals we can do this. Let us make the effort to be better friends, neighbors, members of the community now and for the rest of our lives. Do not let the voices of the 27 children and their educators be silenced. They can live on through all of us in the positive good world we can create together, a New Town.