Driving home from Disney World yesterday, I read about the tragic events in Newtown.

As a parent, as a human being, it hit me like a punch to the gut. 20 kindergartners.  20 little souls. Gone.

Senseless.  Unimaginable. Unfathomable.  There is no way to comprehend this.

As parents we do everything we can to keep our children safe. Reading food labels, checking toys for potential choking hazards, covering outlets, buying the safest car seats. Moving to the safest communities.  Then something like this happens and we realize that we’re never really safe. There is danger and evil all around us.

Children shouldn’t have to live with the fear of evil. Parents shouldn’t have to either. After hearing about this tragedy, I immediately felt guilty for bringing Avery into a world filled with so much evil. I thought I was selfish for wanting a child, despite the fact that our planet is such a mess, and such a scary place. Who knows how bad things will be in 5, 10, 20 years…   But then I thought “maybe this will be the generation to fix things”  maybe our generations, X and Y had it so easy that we just became complacent. Maybe our “babies” won’t be as lazy. Maybe they will make the world better.  I know at 8 months old, Avery has already made my world better. Maybe these babies will save us.

These events can easily be turned into debates about gun control and mental healthcare, and if course these are topics we should be discussing, but only discussing. Not arguing about or placing blame. Those babies didn’t die because of politics. Their lives were taken by evil.  Arguing won’t bring them back, but love and support can help their community, and all of us, get through this horrific and senseless tragedy.

I think changes need to be made. Do I think assault rifles are too easy to obtain? Absolutely. Do I think all guns should be banned? Absolutely not.  I think there is a middle ground that we need to find. I think we need to look for that “compromise” rather than fighting for the extremes.

Guns or no guns, we need to protect our children. A man with multiple weapons shouldn’t be able to walk right in to an elementary school. School should be a safe haven. When the world outside is scary, children should always feel safe at school. We must make changes.

My prayers, love and support are with the parents, families and friends of all the children and teachers who were killed. I also pray for the police and first responders who had to report to that unimaginable scene.   I hope that we, as a nation, can come together in the wake of this tragedy instead of letting differences of opinion separate us.

Hug your children.