Snowflakes and Solace

It's hard for anyone to know the best way to handle a tragedy like the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary last week.
It's difficult for adults to wrap their brains around it all, much less a group of fourth graders. But the kids want to know what's going on in the world. They hear about it, they worry about it. And as a parent I think it's my responsibility to help them navigate it, even though I'd rather just pretend it never happened -- and never COULD happen.
But my daughters live daily with increased security measures in their school. They practice lockdown drills along with fire drills and weather drills. They can't get into the school office with the daily attendance sheet unless someone buzzes them in and then out again. They know that when a kid wanders too far from the playground everyone has to go inside until the child is found. They know doors get locked, windows stay closed and the police are there to keep them safe.
So I told Hannah and Lizzie about what had happened. And, yes, we discussed the children who died, but we spent more talking about the children -- the hundreds of children -- who lived. We talked about the people who helped them; the people who saved them. We talked about what happens in their school to keep them safe. And we talked about the Snowflake Project.
The local (and now the state) PTSA in Connecticut have asked schools and community groups to show support by making snowflakes. The school that the children are going to be using is a drab building that the PTSA hopes to brighten with hundreds of snowflakes created by children across the country. My guess is that there will be well more than hundreds make -- more like 10s of thousands.
This past Tuesday my Junior troop made 26 to send in.
As a troop we talked a little about what happened, but mostly we talked about how we could help those hundreds of students who escaped safely cope with the changes and sadness around them.
Then we made snowflakes -- one for each angel.

Here's Lizzie and her best friend Keira. It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but Lizzie's snowflake is covered in glitter glue:

And here's Hannah and a bunch of my other scouts working on their snowflakes. This table decided to color the paper before cutting out the flakes. I am always amazed at how creative the girls are AND how differently they express that creativity. I have to say that no two snowflakes were alike:

 A few of my silly scouts working on their project. They all have the best hearts and were really into this project. What might have been sad became a joyful project:

 Here are some of the snowflakes we made. I'm packaging them up and sending them off tomorrow. Nothing will ever diminish the tragedy of what happened, but I am hopeful that the avalanche of snowflakes that I know are making their way to Connecticut will serve to show that while evil cannot be stopped; neither can good.

 I've got two addresses for the Snowflake Project (several friends from Connecticut!) but the most popular seems to the Connecticut PTSA. If you want to participate send your flakes to Connecticut PTSA, 60 Connolly Parkway, Building 12, Suite 103, Hamden, CT 06514, by January 12, 2013
One of the emails I got specified that NO WORDS should be written on the snowflakes (even words of encouragement) because they are supposed to serve just as a happy, sparkly decoration.