I still love Mr. Rogers

Things are going well at the preschool. I have a nice batch of teachers who treat the children well, get along and come to work. I don’t ask for much. We had some fallout from the Sandyhook shootings. DHS has required us to come up with a plan should something like that happen here but I don’t see how any facility can be prepared for something like that. We have no closet or bathroom to hide all the children in and the first person to have access to any or all of the doors is me. Although there are those who find me menacing I doubt a person with a jimmy rigged gun collection is going to find me very scary and that’s really all we have between him and the others in my wing. We have a security system at the preschool but honestly it was very upsetting to those who care for small children everywhere.

Like other parents, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the first news alert that a school shooting happened – in Newtown, Connecticut – at an elementary school. Its' shocking. It's devastating. It's unreal. Who would take anger like that out of little kids?

Then we had some of the children hear enough of adult conversation or news at home to come to school with questions. Lots of them and some of them made me want to cry. These are children I see every day sometimes more than they own parents. What do you tell those upturned faces with those eyes filled with trust? Especially since I myself was having a hard time with it all?
It’s unimaginable. It’s heartbreaking. Just every emotion comes to attention and has been experienced by so many. Stories and images of the various, many adults who suddenly were named heroes even though they likely were unsung champions before December 14th – school staff, community volunteers, neighbors, police and rescue workers from around the state and beyond – each headline more emotive than the last. The magnitude of the sense of community compassion is simply unbelievable. You are not alone is a sentiment I keep seeing from our communities to others, all faiths, all kinds of families, all kinds of expressions of love and kindness. I keep thinking of Mr. Roger’s quote “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.” So I focused on that with the preschool children and with my own at home. There are more good people in this world than bad and I have to believe it myself so I can tell them the truth.

So today at least for now I have no recipe to share just a warm thought of my very first crush, Mr. Roger’s.