In Connecticut USA, a few months ago, about 20 children from an elementary school was massacred by a 20-year-old Adam who also killed his mother and himself.
You know, I have a daughter - Angel - who is still in the elementary school. I've held her closer and tighter than before after knowing of this news. I began to think of important things I need to say to her while she's still young. And I'm grateful that I still have the opportunity to do so.
How do we take this tragedy in Connecticut? First of all we can only weep, grieve, and sympathize with those parents who lost their kids - literally just hold them. Then, for us who are parents, we search our selves. How do we affect our children? Perhaps we need help ourselves, to take enough care of our side of the street. By doing so, we make sure we're able to touch, to spend time, and to listen to our children. We show care to them and what they may be going through in their lives.
I also say that this shocking event proves that there is a deep need in our society for safe places where hurting people can find healing. It's a trauma like no other when children are emotionally or physically injured in their homes and there's no one around to make sense of it. In the face of life's pain or anger, tragedies like one in Connecticut can be avoided and prevented if the seeds of safe places and safe people are planted enough around us.
Dr. Angelo Subida is a clinical psychotherapist, author, and speaker. He is author of books "Inner Healing," "Secrets Of Your Self," "Chess and Life," among others, blogs, and articles. He has appeared frequently as an expert on psychotherapy/life recovery issues on national television, radio broadcasts, print media, and webcasts, including GMA 7, TV 5, ABS CBN 2, Q-11, 700 Club, Radyo Veritas, Inquirer Radio, Smart Parenting Magazine, Business Mirror, among others, and has served as resident therapist/counselor for parents and kid-artists in the highly popular ABS-CBN 2 Voice Kids TV singing reality show. Dr. Subida is an eclectic, multidisciplinary therapist and originator of his own revolutionary high-tech, high-touch counseling plus model. His areas of specialization include parent-child therapy, clinical infidelity treatment, relationship/marital counseling, separation/divorce therapy, anger management, depression, addictions, psychotherapy-spirituality integration, and innovative chess therapy. For more of Dr. Subida, you can find him at www.drsubida.com.