Image Source: GSM Nation

Google Glasses is the new gadget being talked about in tech circles and although I am usually not one to keep up with what’s the latest in technology, I must admit that it intrigues me. What caught my attention is its ability to take photos or videos and immediately post it to social networking sites like facebook or twitter.

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Image source: Heather McCloskey Beck’s Photos on facebook.

“How can anyone do that?” my 15-year old daughter asked me today, to which I had no easy answer to give.

She is 15 now, not 5; I can’t sugar coat bad news anymore and I can’t honestly tell her that everything is OK, because they are not OK. No one is OK tonight, knowing that 20 parents cannot hug their babies and tuck them in to bed.

Tonight, we pray for everyone affected by this, another horrific and senseless tragedy.

Tonight, we grieve with the whole community of Newtown, Connecticut for the loss of their loved ones.

Tonight, we hug our girls just a little tighter along with many parents nationwide who are also holding on to their loved ones after the tragedy.

And tonight, as a mom, I add my tears and outrage of this event.  I pray and wish and hope that it won’t happen again, even as I know that it probably will.

And I feel selfish and guilty as I silently add, “please, not my kids”…

But I know, that prayer too, is a tenuous hope.

But when our heart is breaking, our only hope is to pray…pray that everything will be OK.

Some days, the hate, the violence, the ignorance, the arrogance and atrocities of men can be so overwhelming you just want to scream and pull your hair out. Some days I just want to have a mommy tantrum and scream, STOP IT ALREADY!!!

It makes me not want to look at the news because I still want to be able to see the good in people, I still want to be able to see this world as beautiful. I like thinking that the world I brought my daughters into can be safe and nurturing and hopeful and worth living for.

BBC journalist Jihad Masharawi carries his son’s body at a Gaza hospital. (Associated Press)
Image Source: The Washington Post

Last week,I saw this heart breaking photo and read about the 11 month child who died in the Gaza bombing. Before I even read the story, the photo already broke my heart. As a parent, I immediately felt the devastation on this man’s face. I instinctively knew the story before I learned the details.  Because in the end, there really is only one story here. A precious child is lost to his parents and to this world. It matters not which side of the conflict he’s on, another precious life is lost and the amount of grief in the world compounds.

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Politics is a dirty business no matter which side you’re on and I have never been political. I avoid discussing politics and religion because I know it’s a moot point. But this year, I am feeling a change coming on. This election year, it’s very hard for me to stay in the middle. I know it has a lot to do with where I am in my own personal life and experiences, but I am having difficulties understanding the opposing (Republican) views.

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