I’ve been too overwhelmed by the news and everyone’s reactions to it, to write anything. My son and I are empathic, which means we’re very sensitive to other people’s feelings and emotions and almost take those on as our own. It can be crushing for me as an adult still, so I protect B by limiting his access to the news.
He doesn’t need to know how many people have died in the past couple weeks or who all the ‘bad guys’ of the world are. Most of us don’t. I’m not going to encourage a fearful mentality of perceived enemies.
Yes, he knows that there is war and that people kill each other for countless reasons. He doesn’t understand why and I’m afraid I’m no help there because I don’t understand it either.
What I will do is raise him with unconditional love, show him that all of us have the same needs despite our differences, and help him interact with others from a place of oneness. Using the word oneness has such a hippie connotation, but it really is a world view that we could use more of to describe humanity. We’re all in this together.
Single Mom Unschooling 
I feel the same way. Even for myself, at age 50. Last weekend, my sister asked, “So have you been watching the news all morning?” The news, of course was Paris. “No, I said. I can’t. When it’s all over, I’ll read a summary in the New York Times, and be done with it. I spent an important part of my life there, and I cannot watch this minute by minute, one more additional comment from some stander-by. I am just profoundly sad. And I think you are right about limiting what you say to your son. There is world enough and time to talk about the bad things that come along with life. And to stay focused on how the good things are far more profound and numerous.
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For self preservation it’s a must. If you take on all the world’s sadness then it’s much harder to see the joy.
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Reblogged this on Ann Cavitt Fisher and commented:
Of all of the things that have been said this week about Paris, this is the only one that resonated with me.
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