Helping children deal with violence

Several weeks ago, cable news reported a brutal shooting at a Catholic school chapel in Minneapolis, USA.

- DR. JUN YNARES

The gunman — who later killed himself — snuffed out the lives of two young children, aged eight and 10, and injured close to 20 others. The senseless rampage happened while the schoolchildren were seated at the church pews as they attended the celebration of Holy Mass marking the start of their school year.

While we watched the news coverage, we were filled with both terror and puzzlement. The cruelty of the crime and the senselessness of the gunman’s actions left us dumbfounded. His bullets did not target specific persons; it was a plain and simple, insane act. We cannot understand the kind of mind behind such acts.

The recent shooting incident brought back vivid memories of a similar incident in 2012.

We recall that during that year, our eldest daughter saw on television the news clips on the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, USA. In that incident, some 20 children between the ages of six and seven perished. What struck her then was the footage of weeping parents and the massive expression of collective grief by the members of the Sandy Hook community. She was devastated by that sight. She said she could not understand why some people can be capable of inflicting such evil and so much suffering on others, particularly the innocent.

We recall the heartbreaking question she asked: “How can such bad things happen, Daddy?”

How does a father answer such a question?

The fact is, there is nothing much we can say to adequately answer such a question.