Dear OCUUC Community-
This holiday season has been overshadowed by the tragedy at Sandy Hook School in Connecticut. OCUUC children will be participating in creating snowflakes to send to the surviving children at their new school. Adults are invited to stop by and create a snowflake this Sunday at the Religious Education table. This will be in addition to the note-writing that Rev. Ed will be coordinating over the weekend.
I look at the faces of the little children and the adults who lost their lives in this tragedy and my heart aches. As Unitarian Universalists, we can take some hope and comfort in doing the social justice work to ensure that this will not happen again.
Below are three links that are extremely helpful in providing information to adults on helping children cope with their fears surrounding this type of violence. I happened to be teaching in one of our RE classes last Sunday when the children brought up the shootings. As Fred Rogers recommended, first I asked each child to briefly tell me what they thought had happened, and then I had each child tell me how they felt about it. I then gave a very brief, two sentence statement of the facts and reassured the children several times that the adults around them do everything they can to keep them safe. I pointed out the helpers in the community who arrived immediately when they knew there was a problem.
Lastly I told them that these events are extremely rare. It is our job, as the responsible adults in their lives, to make sure this never, ever happens again. May it be so.
Blessings~~
Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education
President, Pacific Southwest District Liberal Religious Educators Association
Resources:
"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world." - Fred Rogers
