{"id":4958,"date":"2012-12-14T18:33:31","date_gmt":"2012-12-14T23:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/?p=4958"},"modified":"2012-12-14T18:33:31","modified_gmt":"2012-12-14T23:33:31","slug":"tragedy-great-sorrow-and-the-breath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2012\/12\/tragedy-great-sorrow-and-the-breath.html","title":{"rendered":"tragedy, great sorrow, and the breath ~"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I have nothing to say after a tragedy of this magnitude. My heart hurts — I have to catch my breath, thinking of sending a child or children off to school, and never seeing them again… My mind races: what have we come to? How did this happen? What can we do to stop these horrific tragedies?<\/em><\/p>\n

I have been breathing for the families whenever I remember. And Newton, Connecticut has been in my thoughts often today… Tonglen <\/a>helps, but it doesn’t stop the anger or the grief. When I become incensed with someone on FB who sees the national outrage as a threat to her right to own a gun, I try to channel that reaction for the families, whose anger & horror and grief so certainly outstrip anything I can imagine…<\/p>\n

And when I’m missing my younger son, who will not be coming home for the holidays, I channel that, for these families who will be missing a child every holiday from now on…<\/p>\n

I offer only this: great sorrow. Deep breaths. And a heartfelt hope that somehow, we find a way to stop these tragedies…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have nothing to say after a tragedy of this magnitude. My heart hurts — I have to catch my breath, thinking of sending a child or children off to school, and never seeing them again… My mind races: what have we come to? How did this happen? What can we do to stop these…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,325,30,157,440],"tags":[40,11,262,441,51,1265,1225],"class_list":["post-4958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-compassion","category-death","category-grieving","category-tonglen","category-tragedy","tag-after-tragedy","tag-beginners-heart","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-connecticut-shooting","tag-coping-with-anger","tag-death","tag-tonglen"],"yoast_head":"\ntragedy, great sorrow, and the breath ~ - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have nothing to say after a tragedy of this magnitude. 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