Such a sad and tragic loss

Today there is a palpable sadness in the air that I haven’t witnessed for many a year. My own son is on a J1 in California. After we eventually made contact with him, the initial euphoria was replaced with a guilty feeling that there are a dozen parents and families grieving their beautiful children – those who have died and those who are injured.

As parents, we all want to put our children in cotton wool and protect them for ever but this is and will never be the case. I remember a sign outside a church: “A ship is safest in the harbour but it was built to sail the seas.” May those beautiful, innocent children sleep in peace.

Aidan Hampson

Artane, Dublin