Today was my first day back in Wilmington. I spent the day doing necessary things such as unpacking, cooking, doing laundry, and grocery shopping. I decided to go to Walmart because there were several random things I needed in addition to the food items. I met someone wonderful while there.
As I waited in line at the register, a young boy (probably about 8 years old) and his mother were in line behind me. I overheard the boy ask, "Why does this say 'Why did he do it?'" referring to a magazine headline. The mother explained calmly that it was referring to the man last week who shot the children in the school. The boy asked a lot of follow-up questions in which the mother calmly explained the best she could what had happened. What I admired most was that she said "The man needed help that he did not get." She did not make judgements about the situation, she did not show anger towards what had happened, she just calmly told her son what she knew about the situation and that there was no rational explanation for what had happened. Another comment from the boy that I remember is that he said "I bet those were very nice kids." and the mother replied, "Yes, I'm sure they were." And the boy said, "I bet the parents are very sad."
The whole conversation made me realize that we all try to make sense of the tragedy that happened in Newtown Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary, but there is nothing logical about it. No matter how hard we try, there will never be a satisfying explanation.
After the conversation between the mother and child ended, the boy approached me and said, "Ma'am?" (Have I mentioned how much I love being called 'ma'am'? "What kind of kitty do you have?" He saw my cat scratcher on the conveyer I was purchasing. I proceeded to converse with him about my cat and his cat, etc...
I'm so glad I got myself out of the house today and was able to meet this wonderful young boy. He will grow up to be an intelligent man who I think will do great things. He is lucky to have such a great mom. Sometimes I forget how smart kids can be and how refreshing it can be to converse with someone who is so young.
