With Sorrow

I was supposed to write something here today.

I thought about writing about how we've been celebrating Hanukkah. What it is like to celebrate the holiday with one child with special needs, and one typical child.

I thought about writing about some of Moe's recent progress. About our search for an AAC device for him, or about visiting several autism schools, or the time I got into a spat on Facebook with an autistic adult.

I have a lot to write about.

But today, I, like much of the nation, sat stunned at the news of, at latest count, twenty children shot and killed in a Connecticut school. The horror is unfathomable. I have had tears in my eyes all day as I think of the horror of this day.

We parents of special needs kids know especially how vulnerable our children can be. They suffer abuses at the hands of those who are meant to care for them and teach them. But a bullet does not discriminate between special needs and typical child. When a gun enters a school, every child is vulnerable.

And so today, I come here not to write about my child with special needs. Instead, as a parent and a human being, I think of the families in Connecticut with the deepest sorrow. I hope someday they are able to find peace. I hope we learn something from this tragedy.

Most of all, I hope: never again.
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Jen Bush also writes at her personal blog, Anybody Want A Peanut?