Tragically Close to Home - Aurora Theater Shooting

My daughter and her boyfriend went to the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" last night. I am a concerned mother always - probably too protective, and often checking too much to make sure that my kids are safe. I stayed up until 3:30 a.m. cleaning until they made it home safely.

They had contemplated going to the movie in the Denver area. Aurora is a suburb of Denver, and only 65 miles from our home. I have driven past The Century 16 Theater many times. My daughter's boyfriend went to see the midnight premiere of "Captain America" last summer at The Century 16. He explained this morning that if circumstances had been just slightly different, if my daughter hadn't wanted to see the movie, he could easily have chosen to go with his friend to the midnight screening at the Century 16 in Aurora this morning.

This is real. This is close, and I am devastated and praying as I write, for the families in agony today, over the loss of dear ones.

The feelings you have when something like this happens - horror and helplessness. The helplessness, the torture of wishing you could somehow turn back time to prevent it, hits you in the gut like a ton of bricks, one at a time, over and over throughout the days following such violence. Twelve dead. Fifty-eight injured. Seventy victims makes this the largest mass shooting in American history.

I feel too stunned to write, but I also feel compelled to speak to this horrifying event.

We've watched these things on the news over and over. Immediately I wonder what is to blame? Is it just that evil exists and we have to accept it? Are there gun control laws that could have prevented it? Why are there individuals that seemingly leave NO warning signals before they emotionally explode into a world-shattering act of unspeakable terrorism? Or are the signals there, if we'd only pay close enough attention for our own collective good?

How do we recover? How do we move forward?

I don't begin to pretend that I have the answers, except to believe that at the core most people are loving and good. That is the greatest hope for the future that we have.

I heard one brave and caring 22-year old woman, Jennifer Seeger, (who survived the shooting) said on the news today, that she wished she could have taken a bullet for the baby that was injured. Thankfully, the 4-month old she spoke of is safe at home this evening.

Maybe if we asked questions more often - reached out to hurting people more - noticed when people are closing off from society and imploding in on themselves in a dangerous obsessive pattern of behavior - maybe then we would begin to grow more sensitive to the warning signs.

I don't know.

I just strongly feel that we should be learning something from this.