Absolutely Disguisted

This article has made me super cranky.

Claim seeks $100 million for Sandy Hook school shooting survivor

Are you kidding me?

Two weeks after this happens, some family is looking to make a buck off of it?  I'm very certain you're child is suffering following this.  I imagine mental health professionals in Newtown CT have lots of new clients.  Get your child some serious therapy.  Get some for yourselves while you are at it.  Move to another town if you need.

But trying to make money because you say the school board was negligent?  Seriously?  This man broke into the school.  It was locked.  He was not let in, he broke in.  Teachers lost their lives trying to save students, perhaps even your child.  Everyone involved was hurt by the tragedy.

Instead of trying to make some money from it, be grateful your child is alive and you can hug and kiss them goodnight.  You can comfort them when they are scared.  You can seek out help for them.  100 million dollars is ridiculous.  I'm sure the parents of the 20 children that lost their lives would gladly give you that much money if it meant they could have their own child back.

long overdue post about Adam Lanza and mental health

I am Adam Lanza's mother

I think the horrible day at Sandy Brook Elementary School was one of the worst mass shootings in history.  The entire thing, from beginning to end, is not understandable.

What has come out of it, has been an increased debate in gun control and mumblings about access to mental health care being easier.

I am in support of both those things.  I don't believe guns should be as accessible as they are.  There is certainly no reason for a regular person to own an automatic or semi-automatic weapon.

And mental health.  I'm still seeing a therapist.  I'm lucky, I guess.  I have health insurance and they cover me to see her.  Not everyone is that lucky.  I know if it wasn't covered, I could probably look up to find therapists that were low cost, or no cost, but really, that would be a lot of work.  I've started to look before, and the process was so time consuming that I gave up.

Now that I have health insurance, I looked at their website for therapists, found one, called her, and got an appointment.  I feel like I mesh with her, so I keep going.

I struggle, frequently with MS, my mother's death and general feeling poorly about myself.  She would tell you depression, but after working with teenage girls, that word just annoys me now.  I feel like its overused by society, but her use of it is clinical, so I guess it's ok.

Anyway, the thought of people talking about therapy, and making it less taboo, well, I think that's great.  Very few people know I go to therapy.   I worry about what they would think of it - some would be ok with it, others might judge me for it.  With the topic of mental health making headlines is good - to get the topic out there, it always worries me.

What if now, after this conversation, it becomes the norm to think of therapy as for people who will become potential shooters.  What if it seems like it's not just for the normal person who is struggling with something, but for people who are about to go off the deep end?  In my thinking, Adam Lanza must have been stable at some point.  What was it that made it do what he did?  Could therapy and/or medication have prevented it?

I don't know.

Why is mental health so taboo?

As is everyone, I am thinking about the shooting at Sandy Hook.  I have more questions then answers, and I really wish I could understand why.

Lots of conversation has been going on about gun control, god in school, and mental health resources.

I understand the rational behind "guns don't kill people, people kill people," but I also think guns make the killings much worse.  Imagine what war would be if both sides only used pea-shooters.  There'd be a lot less death in the final number.  I'm in support of tougher gun laws.  I don't believe every person needs to own a gun.  If they do, they certainly do not need automatic weapons or other similar instruments.

God - I saw a post on facebook that said, "Dear God,  Why do you allow such things to happen in my school?  Sincerely, a concerned student.  Dear concerned student, I'm not allowed in your school.  Sincerely God."

I don't know how I feel about that.  I wouldn't want any one telling my child which God they had to pray to or what they had to call him.  I do believe though, that children who wish to have a God to talk to and pray to should be allowed, even in public school.  I wish I had a God I could turn to during times like these.  Seeking comfort in a God would be nice.  I'd like that.

And mental health.  That's a whole different topic all together.  I haven't firmly decided what I think or feel about that.

I do feel that a lot of people died on Friday.  A lot of people that did not have to die.  And I include the shooter in that total.  He did a horrible thing, but hopefully, we can use the knowledge we will learn to prevent something as horrific as this from ever happening again.