"My body's at home, but my heart's in the wind..."

It Happened Here, Too

I am ashamed to admit it,
That my view has come to this.
I saw a blurb on the news about a shooting
But moved on with my morning.
Shootings have become so common place that
They leave a quick ding on my heart
But we go on.
I kiss my baby
And put him on the bus and
Wait patiently for him to come home.
I miss him.
I know he will come home.
My mind reaches worst-case scenarios so often
But in my heart, I tell myself
"That won't happen here".
Millions of parents do the same thing.
Every.
Single.
Day.
Later on, a text from my mom told me;
It happened to someone today.
To so many someones that there's not an official "count" yet.
And yes, today, the count is of young children
Who went into their classrooms full of life
And promise
And future
And that's where their promise and future has been left.
It's unthinkable
And it happened.
My first reaction is to hold my baby
To make half-joking, half-achingly serious remarks
About how he's never going to school again.
"We'll homeschool."
But, life will go on as will the small relief that
It didn't happen here.
But here's the thing.
We live in an age that allows us to connect
With a few pushes of buttons on our phone.
Our daily tasks documented on Instagram
And updated on Facebook.
Our world is so huge, yet so small.
And if you are a Mommy
If you are a Daddy.
If you are a teacher, an officer, a custodian,
If you are a person
Those are your babies and
It happened here, too.
These are our neighbors.
This is our country,
This is our world and
This happened here, too.

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