I'm Sad Today

I was tired last night, so I spent the evening sketching out some new pieces on canvas in front of the TV. Since we don’t have cable, I was stuck watching the main network channels, all of which were interrupted on the hour for updates and press conferences about the school shooting that took place in Bailey yesterday.

I know that watching the news is never a happy experience with all the crap that happens all over the world every day, but that never numbs me to the stories that hit closer to home. And hearing about this particular story all night just made me sad.

Bailey is a 25 minute drive from my house. It’s a little town in the mountains with maybe one restaurant and a gas station along the highway. It’s the kind of place you’d move if you wanted to get away from the hustle of city and suburban life.

It’s not the kind of place where you would expect this sort of thing to happen.

The parents of the children in the classroom that was taken hostage probably thought they were sheltering their children by living in a rural mountain town. Now, not so much.

It just goes to show you can’t get away from this crap.

I live five minutes away from Columbine High School, and I think the community I live in is still affected by the aftermath of that tragedy. No one thought that sort of thing would happen in Littleton either, yet it did. And now there’s another school shooting that has taken place just a short drive away.

Anyhow, I don’t really have a point – I’m rambling. I’m just sad for the family of the child who died, I’m sad for the law enforcement officers who had to deal with the situation while their own children were inside the school, and I’m sad for the guy who did this.