A Few Thoughts

This nation was rocked this week, with not only one tragic shock, but two horrible events within three days of each other. First, on Tuesday, my home state of Oregon was shocked by the shooting at the Clackamas Town Center, a shopping mall that is now marked with three deaths.  Then, the second deadliest school shooting in America's history happened on Friday. 
There are no words to express the grief, the horror felt at learning of these tragedies.  For some Oregonians, both of these events have brought back memories of the Thurston High School shooting in 1998, when Kip Kinkel murdered his parents and then proceeded to kill two students and injure 25 more. 
All of these tragedies are hard to comprehend.  It is impossible to understand what drives someone to commit these acts. All of these innocent lives lost, for no known reason. If you happen to believe in a particular faith, you pray in any way you know how. We donate any money we can to help the families of the victims. We turn political, debating gun laws and arguing for better mental health care. We hold our families a little longer, say "I love you" a little more freely.
For those of us who use the web as our platform, we can use our little corner of  the Internet to help as well. I normally avoid link ups or group posts, but this one is definitely one to join. Thanks to Erin's sharing, Neely, Michelle, and Meg's message is being passed along. Please read the following and do what you can to help:
To the Blog World and Anyone Else who Wants to Help,

Yesterday, tragedy struck so many of us in ways we did not foresee. An elementary school and small town in Connecticut was shattered by a mass shooting. We knew we wanted to help and we came up with this:



On Tuesday, December 18th, there will be a blogger day of silence. 
We will post the button and that's it. Please try to not post anything else that day if possible.

We are also raising money that will go to an organization in the memory of this tragedy. The organization is called The Newtown Family Youth and Family Services. Here is the official description of the support service we are donating to: 

"Newtown Youth and Family Services, Inc. is a licensed, non-profit, mental health clinic and youth services bureau dedicated to helping children and families achieve their highest potential. NYFS provides programs, services, activities, counseling, support groups and education throughout the Greater Newtown area.

ANY DONATIONS MADE TO NEWTOWN YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES WILL BE DONATED DIRECTLY TO THOSE EFFECTED BY THE SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING."

Please visit THIS PAGE to make your donation.

We can't imagine how they must be feeling, especially this close to the holidays. We would love for you to spread the word on your own blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Let's make a difference and use blogging in a positive way. Thank you in advance for participating.

Love,
The Blog World 

p.s. If you would like to, copy-paste and repost any part of this, please do. Share on.