Who knows what to think?

It's sometimes hard to know what to think on days like today. Here are some of the things that I think:

• Tragedies like today's are not something that I worry about at my school. I have no idea why; I guess I just feel really safe there and approach it somewhat matter-of-factly -- it's hard to stop crazy. If crazy wants in the door, there's almost no way to keep it out. So we do our best to be vigilant and proactive, but that's all we can do.
• Tragedies like today's were not something I worried about at my daughters' school -- until today. It never really dawned on me that something so horrifying would happen at an elementary school. And then I go back to my thought above -- it's hard to stop crazy. If crazy wants in the door, there's almost no way to keep it out. That thought terrifies me.
• Tragedies like today's always motivate people to provide a variety of suggestions on ways to prevent this type of thing in the future. My take on some of those is that many of them are impractical and/or wouldn't work the way people think they would. Our children's safety is the absolutely most important thing we focus on; however, it's not realistic to think that every, single person to access a campus will be searched. Because, for one thing, if crazy wants in, crazy will find a way, remember?
• Tragedies like today are exactly that -- tragedies. There is no "silver lining", no positive outcome. I read an article that the local hospital locked down and cleared the area to make way for a wave of injured survivors...who never arrived. Law enforcement officers are having to investigate what will be, for many of them, the most gruesome crime they'll ever witness...will they all recover from it? The children in that school will suffer from the long term effects of listening to screams and gunshots over their PA system...how long will they sleep with their parents until they don't have nightmares? And then there are the parents and family members of those who were killed...how will they go on?

So...these are just some of the things that I have thought about today. Not exactly the best post to break my year+ absence, huh?