Compassion & Empathy

I have to take a second to write out my thoughts after hearing about the unbelievable tragedy in Connecticut. I just have to. It weighs so heavily on my heart - as a new mom and a teacher. I just can't shake it.

It terrifies me that we live in a world where truly horrific things can happen to innocent little angels. It seems that these horrible things keep happening more and more often, and there is nothing being done about it. I automatically started thinking of ways to protect Cooper from these awful things. For one, he will never go to the mall- I'll get him an Amazon Prime account. No elementary school experience for him - home school it is! There was this movie called "Bubble Boy," - where can I pick-up one of those bubbles? Speaking of movies- theaters are overrated, movies at home with dad's air popped popcorn are way better.

I felt hopeless. Like there is no possible way that this (our world!) is a safe place for Cooper to be. Then I realized that is no way to live. We can't let fear dictate how we live. I want Cooper to experience life and LOVE IT! I want him to see the good in all people. Sometimes the good is way down deep and buried under layers of hurt and heartbreak, but it's there. It gives me hope knowing that I can teach Cooper about compassion and empathy.

I may not ALWAYS model this behavior for him, although I will try. It is very difficult to always show compassion and empathy when others are mean and hurtful. To be honest it is way easier to be mean right back. I am guilty of this more often than I would like to admit. But the more I think about these devastating events, the more I think about the people who caused them. They were once someone's baby. What happened? How could they become a monster? What if someone had taken the time to be their friend? A real friend. What if someone had listened to them when they needed it? Surely they tried to ask for help in their own way. Could all this hurt have been prevented? I hope to raise Cooper to be the kind of person who knows when someone needs a friend. To know when to listen and offer help to someone. And if that person will not accept his help, he will know when to seek out additional help, rather than just give up.

That is what I can do for him. It gives me hope.

To try to brighten our spirits, Chris and I spent all of Friday night just loving on Cooper. As a family we read The Polar Express. It is one of my favorites! I remember listening to Liam Neeson read it on TAPE when I was a kid. I have it on CD now for Cooper. We tried listening to it on Friday and quickly realized that Liam takes his time reading and this year Mom needed to read the fast version :)

At the end, I gave Cooper the bell. He reminded us to Believe.