Shredder Fright

My little girl is a cautious one. She's very careful and precise in the things she does. She's particular in her likes. She's deliberate in her actions and tasks. She's not usually the kind who'll say lets do this and see if it hurts. 

Last Sunday Daddy had some plans, so Miss Haana and I were going to have a mom-n-daughter dinner night. The evening was to end with Puss in Boots videos (weekend allowance).

I was sorting mail just before we had to leave for dinner, and had a stack of papers to shred. Miss Haana came by asking to help out. She's ever the handy little helper! She went to the shredder and instead of turning it on "Auto", accidentally turned it to "Rev". I have no idea why small shredders like ours' have such a useless function. The shredder started spitting out shredded paper. The little girl frantically moved to turn that thing off. But the few seconds that it took for it to stop, and the unexpectedness of the shredder, left her all shaken up. 

I sympathized with her. I know it can be scary when it does that, I told her. The shredder is not such a friendly thing sometimes. She felt somewhat better in a little bit, but then decided she will not be helping me with the shredding afterall.

This is when I think I changed into this bad, evil, pushy mom. I told her she can't give up because of the fear, she has to shred the papers now. No surprises, it didn't work. She wanted nothing to do with the shredding.

I said we can't go out till she completes what she started. She sulked and resorted to crying instead. I wasn't getting anywhere.

Then, I said we are not watching Puss in Boots unless you finish what you started. Now she was really unhappy! Puss in Boots is something she really looks forward to! I felt really bad inside too. I look forward to cuddling up together and watching those short videos too..

Then, I said- look at Puss in Boots. He's a small cat, and still fights much bigger monsters and theives. Sometimes he's even scared but he never gives up. He stands up and faces his monsters. That's what a brave little girl like Gugu needs to do. Somehow, this suddenly struck a chord. She and I went back to the shredder, and she finished her shredding!!!

Moral of the story? I love Puss in Boots! 

Sandy Hook

Just saw the news about shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut. 20 elementary grade kids were killed. And adults. Am horrified. Who would do such a despicable act? Who would want to hurt these elementary grade kids? For what purpose? What possible point would you want to make, what scores would you want to settle?

I'm even more distraught about the parents. Having Suhaana has given me some insight into parents in general. But I can't begin to imagine what the parents of the children are going through. And to think, an incident like this would provide them no closure, no justice, no hope.

I'm just sad. So, very sad. We think we're a progressive society- moving towards betterment in all aspects. And then an incident like this comes along, makes you question - just about everything. Now we're thinking about locks in school buildings, first response, reverse 911 calls et cetera. When what we really want is to go back to how we grew up, where the street we live on was our playground, we would know everyone in the neighborhood, we would run around and play outdoors, as prevalent on the neighborhood streets and parks as weeds. A time and world where there's no fear. We can't get there with guns or locks. Even though we probably can avert some tragedies with locks. But we can't get rid of that fear. Makes me feel like its lost- forever..

In some way, everyone has lost something today - not only the parents and families and the children directly affected at Sandy Hook.