The photo shows a smiling Soto along with her full class and another Newton victim, teacher Anne Marie Murphy. The photo was taken last fall. Soto, 27, was killed trying to protect her class from the gunman, hiding them in cabinets and a classroom closet to save them from the eyes of Adam Lanza. When he came into her classroom, she told him her children were in the gym.
Murphy is another hero: she was found with her arms around one of the slain children.
The photo also includes victims Dylan Hockley, Allison Wyatt, Jesse Lewis, Avielle Richman, all 6 years old.
I know that it is the holiday and that all of us want to think about spending time with our families and forgetting the troubled year that it is now coming to a close, however I also believe that it is important that we not allow the passage of time, and the distractions of the holidays, make us forget the tragedy that happened just ten days ago.
THAT is what the NRA and their conservative supporters are hoping for. If they can just keep politicians from doing anything of substance in the next few weeks they hope that this whole thing will just blow over with no gun control laws on the books.
And to that end they are also working double time to divert attention away from the easy access of guns in this country to Adam Lanza's mental health.
One of the phrases I have heard repeated by any number of Republican surrogates is that Adam Lanza's mental illness was well known, But NO, no it wasn't. In fact it is STILL not known what his exact diagnosis might have been.
And if it turns out that Adam did indeed have Asperger's Syndrome then we still know NOTHING about why he killed his mother and murdered those babies in that school.
I have worked with a number of children diagnosed with Aspergers and let me tell you that they may be the least violent group I have ever had to deal with. They are often quiet, painfully introverted, and socially inept, but NOT violent in most cases.
And here let me lay a little more knowledge on you. Just because a child is properly diagnosed with a mental illness of some kind, and receiving treatment, that is NO guarantee that they will not self harm, or harm others.
However it is ABSOLUTELY true that without access to his mother's arsenal Adam Lanza would have remained relatively harmless. Or at the very least incapable of taking so many lives with such impunity.
So let us not be distracted from the real issue, which is that access to military style weapons designed for the sole purpose of killing human beings is far too easy in this country, and that so long as people who should never have access to them, get access to them, we will continue to see these kinds of massacres for years to come.
You know, I cannot even comprehend what these parents are going though. Think about it like this:
ReplyDeleteThese parents woke their children up in the morning...fed them some breakfast, interacted with them..helped these first-graders get dressed, gather their 'stuff,' loaded them into their vehicles and strapped them into their car seats...drove them to school...stopped. Got out and unstrapped them from their safety seats...gathered their backpacks/lunch sacks and made sure the children had them...told them to have a good day...told these children they loved them.. told them they'd see them later..kissed them goodbye...
Hours later...these same parents had to identify their children's torn and shattered murdered bodies in a morgue.
Then these grieving parents drove home to see presents under a Christmas tree with their children's name on them...the same presents that will never be opened by these children..
Now run your mouth about guns and the need for guns...go ahead..I dare you.
Those are my thoughts exactly! I wish those NRA members who don't agree with their stance cancel their memberships.
DeleteAnd the wounds will open and the pain return every year for the rest of their lives when the Christmas decorations go up and the carols start to be broadcast. Well, after the holidays are over, they will be haunted with the memories. They'll dull only to be opened again in 10-11 months.
DeleteAdam Lanza took more than 27 lives.
There will be 26 unopened presents under the Christmas tree in Newtown and my heart goes out to all the families that have lost their dear ones. I'm thinking of the kids who survived and the trauma they are going through. I don't think they'll ever feel safe in school again. A very sad Christmas this year.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree.
ReplyDeleteI had an Aspberger's Syndrome student in one of my 8th Grade U.S. History class one year.
He had a one-on-one aide while at school and in the end proved to be one of my my brightest, if not my brightest student that school year.
Although very awkward socially, on his own he decided to produce a story which was sold and gave all the proceeds to another student who had medical issues.
Everyone I've spoken to in the last few days has mentioned the tragedy at Sandy Hook. People want to talk about this, they want change and they won't forget. We are all Sandy Hook.
ReplyDeleteThose of us that are parents, and yes, that includes you, Gryphen because you have been generous enough to talk about your daughter with us and share with us some tidbits, insights into your fatherhood...and her daughterhood...but those of us that haven't lost a child (and it doesn't matter how old that child is) cannot understand what these parents in Newtown are going though. We haven't the capability to understand what losing a child means, if we haven't lost one.
ReplyDeleteLet's think about their loss in any way we can, whichever means is possible to us, whether it is 'prayer' or just sincere thoughts sent to these parents.
I'm not a religious person by any means, but there is a parable...a line.. something to the effect..'There but for the grace of God go I'...that should resonate with all of us..Parents, or not.
We're all human and if this tragedy hasn't affected you..well..
Sadly, my community also suffered a mass gun shooting this week.
ReplyDelete(http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/567116/Churches-try-to-balance-tragedy--season.html?nav=742)
Unfortunately, tonight, Christmas Eve we may have another.
http://wearecentralpa.com/fulltext?nxd_id=423562
My ex-husband has Asperger's,and while it is socially limiting, it is no more dangerous than any other autism spectrum disorder. In the right mix of circumstances, anyone can become dangerous..to single out Asperger's people is wrong.
ReplyDeleteGryphen, Adam was getting treatment by a doctor, and then he was put on meds, and the side-effects were the problem. it is increasingly being proven that drugs are creating havoc on brain chemistry. we need to also consider that Big Pharma has some responsibility for what happened
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/oigP3wWPWk8
Adam Lanza's doctor interview
The guns have the responsibility for what has happened. If he didn't have access to guns no-one would have died. Forget blaming the meds, the movies, the games etc etc. It was the guns.
Deletep.s. actually you have to listen to the entire youtube. this is not Adam's real doctor afterall. but she gives the scenario of what is wrong with the mental health system. sorry for my excitement that it was his real doctor!
ReplyDeleteI have two Aspberger's kids in my trombone studio. Both are shy, calm, totally introverted, and never angry at others. If they get something wrong they get mad at themselves. I can't conceive of either of them ever hurting anyone else. I have known other Aspbergers' kids over the years, and I feel the same about all of them. The moms have a support group, and this week they were talking about how to counter the misinformation about their precious kids, who are bright, eager to please, and a joy to work with.
ReplyDeleteI am not a doctor, and I am not a psychologist or a parent with a child with autism or a parent at all -- I'm just a buttinsky know-it-all nerd who reads lots of stuff, especially health-related stuff because I am also a bit of a hypochondriac, so, with that said, here's my two cents.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna go out on a limb and say that he doesn't really have Asperger's, that he was misdiagnosed or that he actually has some other kind of illness and the family said it was Asperger's because it's easier to accept than the truth or because it's more socially acceptable to have Asperger's than something like dissociative disorder. But -- likely, it was a misdiagnosis. There aren't really any definitive tests for it, right? And a friend of mine from work, her sister-in-law adopted two kids from Romania and they, supposedly, have "Asperger's" but, really, the other one of the two, from the stories I hear, is a little bit of a nutcase, and it seems like he is more like the kid from this This American Life Story: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/317/unconditional-love
Basically, the story is about a kid adopted -- from Romania -- when he was eight after a life where he had very little contact with the outside world and didn't even know what a birthday was! This kid didn't have Asperger's, he was diagnosed with something else, and I would bet my friend's nephew has the same thing.
I'm not saying that Adam Lanza had the same thing -- it seems unlikely that he would have the same illness, because he had a doting mother. The point is this -- people are diagnosed with Asperger's when they don't really have Asperger's and I think that this is the case here.
Also, it seems like the mom was probably a little bit in denial about his needs. Not to blame her -- she probably thought she was doing the best she could by keeping him at home -- no one wants to institutionalize their child! -- I can see this, I can see myself doing the same thing. I feel bad for her -- or I would if she hadn't kept a bunch of assault rifles lying around.
Jesse McCord Lewis is a direct descendant of David Ellis. William Ellis Peyton "Pete" Franklin from Colorado is a direct descendant of Edward Ellis. It seems possible that Jesse Lewis and Pete Franklin are distant cousins.
ReplyDeleteJesse McCord Lewis is the cousin of Benjamin Franklin, William Franklin, and William Temple Franklin.
ReplyDeleteSo does, Victoria Leigh Soto! She is the cousin of Benjamin Franklin, William Franklin, and William Temple Franklin.
ReplyDelete