Crazy Day!

I'm again hearing helicopters. For the second night. Today, the hospital was still on lockdown, but not like yesterday. It was more relaxed, but, everyone who entered was checked. Today, the clinic was slower than average. That was no surprise with the line to get into the building.

Yesterday, my kids spent part of their school day on lockdown. I was at work at one of the trauma centers near the shooting and couldn't leave until the all clear. We had no idea how many casualties were coming, so we had to be prepared. I didn't know when I would get home.

Both my children had heard about the shooting (http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/03/us/san-bernardino-shooting/index.html) at school. My daughter mentioned that she worried about a classmate who lived near some of the shooting yesterday. My son said he was afraid and didn't want to talk about it. Yet, he was in tears over math homework. Today, my son told me that one of his friends lived very near the site of the shooters home, and heard some of the shooting yesterday afternoon. 

Today we learn of the massive amount of ammunition that the shooters had with them. And, the improvised bombs that they had made. While the motive remains unclear, there is some suggestion of both terror connections and workplace issues (http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/03/us/syed-farook-tashfeen-malik-mass-shooting-profile/index.html). It also appears that all these arms were obtained legally, though not all by the shooters (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/03/us/how-mass-shooters-got-their-guns.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1).

Elsewhere in the world, such events are not uncommon, whether the assault is by gun or by bomb. I worry about the effects of this violence on my children. Yet, I know that many children must live in places where they may see people killed or be killed themselves. And, so we have more refugees than at any time since WWII. I worry because I feel violence begets violence and I would like the cycle of violence to come to an end.

Yesterday was a day we will all remember here. There was anxiety and concern for how serious the event was. And, yet, there were signs of the kindness of strangers. Pizza and flowers sent to the main trauma centers. A thank you message written on a nurse's coffee cup. We will continue and we will support each other.