Yes I agree with you Nir....it's so sad what happened....what a carzy world....

Super posting Nir and I am convinced absolutely everyone on the forum agrees totally with your sentiments = you have probably voiced what we are all feeling. In our particular case, we have two darling little granddaughters, the joy of our lives, whom we see each Sunday on Skype bringing us close despite that they are thousands of kms away. It is a terrible thing that has happend : our friends in NJ and CT are stunned - one is the mother of two 30+ daughters but has adopted two further orphans, the other is childless but whose husband is a primary school teacher and who can thus identify at first hand with what has happened. Yes, tell them repeatedly that you love them - after all, it costs nothing and means so much.

We all love our kids so much, and I think deep down we all have this fear of losing them. So when other parents lose their kids, it touches a nerve and brings out our own worst fears.

We live certainly a great place like Switzerland.

To know that we have such an amazingly safe place/home to live in compared to everywhere.

This is one of the most civilized countries I could image. If someone is sick or suicidal the dont normally kill others or CHILDREN, they comit suicide. They might be sad but not UGLY killer. God bless & save there souls.

For kids there is virtually no risks except bullying.

Nir, its touches a nerve to remember our parents sacrafices and understand , even if we didnt understand at certain times. Christmas is time for family and appreciating. I know from personal reasons, holidays are difficlut sometimes with family, but I try my best to forget the rubbish and just apprciate the good things of my family. Not a time to forget but to Appreciate and see how luck we are to have family. Life is short

ok, enought blablabla, humbug and merry Xmas.

So I will never take for 'Granted what I have here or complain or critizise'. As I got to appreciate all the best and not expect Geneva to be London, Los Angles, Paris, Moscow, other. Because those cities have masive problems that I dont want any part of, except a short vacation.

Geneva's excellent quality of life includes :Safe, clean, prosperous, educated, and even dynamic (just need to make it as interesting as you put into it)

Sorry to spoil the ideal Dave, but bad stuff can happen to kids (or adults) anywhere, incl Switzerland. I wish this wasn't the case, but it's reality.

It's very true that some countries have a more safe historical track record than other countries. But that doesn't make any country 100% safe from such crazy attacks.

Well I just think as your a parent, its certainly more 'comfort' your kids are In this country. As the risk is significantly less, but you cant protect them from everything, thats life and yes you must appreciate or spend the time today and not regret later.

It's horrible what happened. Crazy world and crazy law on arms in many countries. Unfortunaly there are too many economicals interests because some laws have a chance to be changed. I am shoked, I have been living not far from Newtown and have close friends with 3 young boys, can not still believe it that happened. Happened in Connecticut, peaceful state...where unfortunately looks like you can buy arm at Walmart !?  Still too many countries that definately should revise their law. I am deeply sad for those kids that had paid with their life and those parents which life will never ever be the same. Life is fragilein front of economical interests. Can not even think that my little friend Liam could have been one of those young boys.

Nir - even tho I thanked you for your post and I couldn't agree more, it also strikes me that children are killed every day all over the world (Syria eg...) and yet we sit by and gloss over it. I am left wondering why we get so angry about this latest shooting and yet do nothing elsewhere ?? Is it becasue we excuse the fact that it is a war, famine  or whatever...I don;t know but it disturbs me that we tend to separate some things out. 

I certainly agree with you Jeffery, we should be concerned about all children who die before their time due to violence. I read today that one of the pilots in the american airforce who piloted one of the drones was ordered to bomb civilians including women and children. He followed orders but left the airforce soon afterwards as he coud not handle the guilt. I don't understand how Obama can rightfully condemn the horrible massacre in the US and yet condone the usage of drones which kill many innocent women and children!

It's called...... being a Politician

All human life is meant to be sacred & precious , not just Western human life. Hundreds of  of children are killed all over the world every week and yet the silence of our Western 'leaders' are deafening!

No it is called not wanting to face the fact that Drones are morally wrong.

Jeffery / Leon / Delseta, ,

Pls don't start with the usual stuff about "why doesn't the world scream when other kids get killed". It's a valid question of course, but save it for another forum thread where you can argue the point with others. And then you can also address where drones are wrong or not, and other serious issues.

This specific thread is about how lucky we are to have around us the people we love, and how fragile life is. 

Don't taint it with big picture politics.

Nir

Delseta@

Fact is drones and drone war is the future of wars, regardless of the innocent lost lives.

Drones are easier to train / mass produce,

Im sure China will build millions of them when they have the technology and sell to any country that will buy them. Then the USA will go, oh shyt. that will suck but reality will 'sink in' when they arrive on there doorsteps.

About 'Guns in the USA' and 'Children', back to the original subject, Gun ownership will not be solved ever because Americans will not give up there weapons, ever

Inocence & Children are always victims all over the world, even in CIVILIZED COUNTRIES. That includes Child death, child Abuse, Child Labor, Child pornograph, etc.

Horrible and ugly people in the world, but NIR is right that best to spend as much time with your family

Nir - "big picture politics" as you put it never entered my head !!( I am the least political person I know !!) Seems like you are a little piqued here about something...my point was that you use this particular event to say something (which I still agree with mind you) but why not say it when it happens somewhere else .

Jeffery: tell you what I'm piqued at. I post something personal, and folks start posting about Drones being immoral, about why I don't post personal stuff when Syrian kids die, etc. I don't want that stuff to take over this specific thread.

Go ahead, open a different thread about why the world puts more focus on Western tragedies, and another one about drone tactics. But don't bring it into this thread.

Nir - i totally agree with you. Such a tragedy. Such an unimaginable loss :-( Extra hugs to TomTom and all our little ones...

"Now is the time to look into their eyes until they succumb to sleep.
Now is the time to say 'I love you' so many times you lose your voice.
Now is the time to hold them until your arms grow tired.
Now is the time to laugh until your belly hurts.
Now is the time to listen and absorb every silly, tender word.
Now is the time to memorize every smile.
Now is the time to think thoughts of gratitude

SJ: thanks mate. That poem says it way better than I ever could, and captures so well how I feel and what I wanted to share here.

My 2 favorite lines in it:

"Now it the time to perceive ordinary moments as gifts"

"Because you just never know what’s about to come your way"

How true.

No need being a father to share the sadness of the family. 

When I was 15 muslim terrorists put a bomb at the entrance of jewish school in the city I lived, I was so shock as my sister school was 3 streets farther. I was thinking who can be so coward to use and attack children.

I m quiete sad for the us families but our compassion should not only be awake when this kind of drama arrived, every day thousand of  children die out of starvation in Africa, Syria s bomb killed innocant people for a year now and it make me angry that this is done without any reaction so out of respect for those victims I will ask you to think to them also.

Sometime I lose my smile and feel hopless about mankind, we re just too stupid to learn from our mistake,we had 2 world war last century, many dictators and slaugthers and we still don t know how to live all together...