Parents across the country, terrified by the Connecticut school shooting, expressed their grief and horror on Internet and social-media sites yesterday.
“Suddenly it seems more horrifyingly possible that your child could become a victim,” one Connecticut mom, Amanda Freeman, wrote on the TLC Parentables blog. “Right now, as a mom in Fairfield County, I am waiting for the school bus, sad and afraid.”
The grief spread from coast to coast as parents contemplated the mothers and fathers in Newtown waking up Christmas morning without their children.
“All I can think about is those poor mamas and dads whose children won’t be coming home from school today . . . What will they do with the packages already under the tree for their babies?” Jen, a kindergarten teacher and mother of three in rural Idaho, wrote on her blog.
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Twitter, meanwhile, was abuzz with anguished reactions.
“The fact that 27 families went from buying Christmas presents to buying funeral clothes literally makes me sick to my stomach,” tweeted Adam Magaletta, of Massachusetts.
Derek Petersen, a Salt Lake City father, tweeted, “I am emotional as I pick my kids up from school knowing some parents can’t or won’t have same opportunity.”
Parents in Newtown also took to the Internet.
“This has hit too close to home. Hug your babies tonight. Prayers and thoughts go out to all affected. I can’t imagine what those families are going through right now,” a parent whose daughter attends a different elementary school, wrote on the Facebook page for the Connecticut parents group CT Parents Connect.
The historic tragedy even caused foreign parents to reflect.
“Looking forward to picking up my kids from daycare and giving them a hug. Thankful to live in Canada. Very sad for the families in #Newtown,” tweeted Tim Owens, a father of two little girls.
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Mark Beaupre, a San Francisco tech worker, wrote: “I am so sad today. Can’t wait to get home and give my little ones a big hug.”
Mary, a Virginia software developer, tweeted, “My son is sitting on the couch, I keep looking at him and imagining, and then, I just can’t go there.”
People were especially torn over the 20 lost futures.
“20 children who will never grow up, fall in love, go to college, or follow their dreams. 20 young lives gone,” tweeted Thomas DeGolier, a rural Texas high-school student.
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Abby Brickler, an Indiana graduate student, tweeted, “Makes me sick that 20 children will never get to grow up.”
While pained parents cradled their babies and cried over the news out of Newtown, others took to Twitter to condemn the shooter.
“How do you wake up and decide that today is the day that you walk into an elementary school and gun down innocent children?” tweeted John Pizma, of Montreal.
Keelie Short, an Idaho high-school student, tweeted: “I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact that someone is sick enough to kill little kids. #PrayForNewton.”
Others said it simpler.
“I hope that Adam Lanza burns in hell!!!!” tweeted Dylan Ryan, of Connecticut.