My thoughts on Newtown

I have not blogged since this time last year for my #oneword2012. I have struggled with what to write as I was unemployed and looking to transition careers. It felt presumptuous to write about a career that I haven't been privileged to enter yet and my #sasearch had not born any fruit.

I feel compelled to write because of the tragedy in #Newtown Ct last week. I do not have any words of wisdom; I am just feeling so bereft that I need to share with my community. I did not know anyone personally in Newtown and live 150 miles or so away. But I have always believed that it takes a village to raise a child and our village was attacked. Babies, just learning how to read and add. Starting their day reviewing the day, the date, reciting the pledge of allegiance, having circle time. Taken from us in the most horrifying manner, because they couldn't fight back. Their teachers, heroes in my eyes on a normal day, bravely facing the firestorm, hiding the kids, jumping in front of the bullets, comforting them even as they lay dying. Parents, spouses, siblings and friends were starting their day just as they did every other school day, some rushing their families out the door, sure that they could make up for it in the evening that would never come. The police officers and state troopers that ran to the scene and prevented an even worse outcome by their quick response; having to have that scene burned into their minds. The emergency responders, doctors and nurses who prepped for patients that never came. My heart is breaking for all of them.

And yet hope is renewed in Newtown. You see the community coming together to support each other. You see the families of the angels choosing to remember the light that came from those lives and the love that they brought instead of the manner of their untimely deaths. Strangers are reaching out from all over the country and around the world to stand together and support each other.

Finally, a real discussion on the proliferation of violence is taking place. The needs of the mentally ill in our communities is being brought out of the shadows. The needs of children in sleepy little towns and congested inner cities and everywhere in between are at forefront of the national collective. And maybe, just maybe, the world may become a little bit safer. And that will be the legacy of the 26 angels of Newtown Ct.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO64urOFNaY&feature=youtu.be

#oneword 2012 : Achieve

This is my first blog post and I tried to get it together for reverbbroads 2011; I found it more difficult than I imagined to place my thoughts on "paper". So now it is 2012 and I am starting anew. Originally RENEW or anew was going to be my oneword. I am looking to redefine myself . I am looking to become a student affairs professional. I have been accepted to a Master's program in Higher Education. Great first steps.

But as I thought about it more I realized that I wanted the word to convey action, so WILL became my choice:

I WILL get a position as a Student Affairs Professional.
I WILL get my Master's in Higher Education
I WILL ........

Then I was watching Oprah's Lifeclass. There it was that I found my oneword and inspiration. A girl in Africa wanted to learn to read. But girls in Africa are not allowed in school. She learned to read and write by doing her brother's homework. She then wrote down her dreams and buried them. And then she ACHIEVED them. She came to America and got her Batchelor's degree, then her Master's degree and now her Doctorate. AND now she is building a school in her villiage so that other girls can learn.

   

a·chieve

 [uh-cheev] Show IPA verb, a·chieved, a·chiev·ing.

verb (used with object)

1.

to bring to a successful end; carry through; accomplish: The police crackdown on speeders achieved its purpose.

2.

to get or attain by effort; gain; obtain: to achieve victory.

 

It is an action word; but it also has another component: SUCCESSFUL 

 

so not only WILL I do something, I WILL be SUCCESSFUL!!

 

ACHIEVE what a POWERFUL WORD...................