• • Robbie Parker, Dad of Sandy Hook Victim, Emilie Parker, on Compassion
• • Darrell Scott's address to the U.S. Congress

[Click on graphic to hear Robbie speak.]  Scott and I watched the CBS Special on the Sandy Hook Massacre on television last night after the kids went to bed. We have not talked to the boys yet. We didn't have the facts. We are still wrestling with what to say and to whom. Some of the advice I have heard is that for children five years old and younger, we should simply shield them from this. So, it's only Ben, who returns to his school tomorrow, that we need to tell.

One of the most powerful things we saw on the special last night was the father of little Emilie Parker describing her beautiful outlook on life, her love for art, her kind words toward everyone she ever met. The above clip shows that side of his comments. What it doesn't show is a few minutes later in the show, when the cameras came back to him and he admitted plain as day not having any clue how to recover from this. He and his wife have two other little girls at home. It was such an honest depth-of-raw moment.

How does anyone recover?

And then he did something amazing. He looked right into the camera and spoke to the family of the shooter, offering compassion, saying that he understood how painful this must be for them as well. He said he and his family would be offering their love and prayers to that family as well as to all the others who have lost loved ones in this event.

When even television commentators were calling the shooter a monster, Robbie Parker had the strength of character to remember that this is a family who is suffering right along with the rest of us. That family will be scrutinized, those survivors have been marked and they will live with this heartache and these questions perhaps longer than anyone else. They didn't only lose family members, one of their family is responsible for all the other loss. It is a burden I cannot imagine.

This is our challenge. To remember at least the name of one victim, and never again mention the name of the attacker.

Emilie Parker is the name I want to remember from all this, and her father, Robbie Parker, who spoke about her with a breaking voice, and showed us how to focus on love, compassion, even gratitude in the face of complete devastation.Source here.

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DARRELL SCOTT

Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine School shootings in Littleton (1999), Colorado left a U.S. Congressional Committee dumbfounded with his address. Here is an edited version of what Darrell Scott said.

“Since the dawn of creation, there has been a portion of both good and evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of violence and the seeds of loving. “The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of her heroic teacher and the other 11 children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers. “One of the first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother, Abel, out in the fields. The villain was the not the club Cain used. The true killer was Cain and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain’s heart.

“In the days following the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the National Rifle Association.

“I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA, because I do not believe they are responsible for my daughter’s death.

“I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy — it was a spiritual event which should force us to look for where the real blame lies.

“Much of the blame lies here in this room, (the U.S. Congress.) Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves.

“I wrote a poem expressing my own feelings.

“Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
“Your words are empty air.
“You’ve stripped away our heritage,
“You’ve outlawed simple prayer.
“Now, gunshots fill our classrooms,
“And precious children die.
“You seek for answers everywhere,
“Then ask the question ‘why?’
“You regulate restrictive laws,
“Through legislative creed.
“And yet you fail to understand,
“That God is what we need.”

“We all consist of three parts — body, soul and spirit. When we fail to acknowledge that third part of our make-up, we create a void which allows evil, prejudice and hatred to rush in and cause havoc.

“Spiritual influences were present in our educational systems for most of American history. Many major colleges began as theological seminaries. These are historical facts.

“What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God and, in so doing, we have opened the doors to hatred and violence. And, when something as terrible as Columbine occurs, politicians immediately look for a scapegoat like the NRA; they immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws and continue to erode our personal and private liberties.

“We do not need more restrictive laws. (The shooters), Eric and Dylan, would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No gun law will stop someone who spends time planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

“The young people of our nation hold the key. There is a spiritual awakening taking place. It will not be squelched.

“We do not need more religion. We do not need more gaudy television evangelists spewing our verbal religious garbage. We do not need more million-dollar church buildings being constructed while people’s basic needs are being ignored.

Darren Scott, concluded his speech to a quiet, dumbfounded U.S. Congressional committee, this way:

“As my son, Craig, lay under that classroom table in that school library and saw his friends murdered before his very eyes — he did not hesitate to pray.

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There simply are no words to express the depth and breadth of the heartache that we feel as we consider the loss that the parents and families of the children and others that were senselessly murdered in Newtown, CT.  As the saying goes, "parents should never have to bury their children." Unfortunately, evil exists and sometimes it plays out in horrendous ways like this -- impacting the lives of so many innocent people.   However, we can remember that God is good all the time and He is our Hope and Consolation.  In addition, we can and must pray for the families and friends of each of these victims.  I hope you will take time to call each name out loud to the Father:

Names and ages of the 26 people gunned down at a Connecticut elementary school Friday in the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history:

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Rachel Davino, 29

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Dawn Hochsprung, 47

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Catherine Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Jesse Lewis, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Mary Sherlach, 56

Victoria Soto, 27

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison Wyatt, 6

SOURCE HERE