I don't usually post about this sort of thing, but this morning so greatly troubled me...

Again with the Bombings. This time in the London. It's strange how one wakes up to these things. First thing I heard on the television this morning when Brian turned it on was "bombings in London." So our immediate thoughts were, where are Vincent, David and Conor at this point?

Then hearing that the bombings happened in the London subway system and on one bus. The though sank in that already our friends should be over the Atlantic and on their way to NYC, to arrive there at about 11 AM. Mixture of relief for them and horror and sadness for the strangers still trapped in the tube, as well as a more troubling and dark feeling; a feeeling that we had expected this anyway.

Still, I will feel better once I've heard from Vincent on the mobile phone. They'll be staying with Paul and Amy in Bethlehem for a couple of days before coming north to spend the week with us.

This morning reminds me of the morning when I was just brewing coffee and Marcel came online to ask if I'd seen the news on the bombings in Spain, and I turned on the news... It's stunning when one realizes that some parts of the world deal with these kinds of attacks all the time.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that if any of these happenings this morning have affected the lives of any of our members here at GF, and it wouldn't be surprising if they did, our thoughts of support and prayers for courage will be with you.

David

Update: Vincent, Conor and David made it through safe and sound as I suspected. Here's hoping all your loved ones are safe this evening.

I suppose this post could go under multiple topics, but I'll tag it on here. I stumbled on this blog this morning. It's mostly a review of children's toys, but on the subject of children and tragedy it seemed worth passing on:

quote:

Talking to Children About Terrorist Attacks
Category: News and Links about Children's Things

Yesterday's bombings in London brought back some unwelcome memories of September 11, 2001. My toddler hadn't been born yet so I didn't give much thought to how children might be reacting to the atrocious events. This time, though, my son saw a picture of the mangled red double-decker bus and insisted that I try to fix it. How do we deal with our own emotions as well as our children's in situations like this?

The National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs is an excellent resource. They suggest the following for talking to our kids (go to their website for more details):
Create a safe environment.

Provide children with reassurance and extra emotional support.

Be honest with children about what happened.

Tell children what the government is doing.

Be aware that children will often take on the anxiety of the adults around them.

Try to put the event in perspective.

The blog seems otherwise pretty commercial, but you can read more here if you'd like to.