School Shootings...And Rats

Rats have always gave me the creeps with their long, disgusting tails, red eyes, and greasy black fur. The stories I hear about them gross me out too. One time, I read a book called "Johnny Got His Gun" and there was a story about a rat eating a soldier's face in the trenches of WWI. Ick. Sometimes they even show up in my dreams and when they do, it's always a bad sign. They showed up in a dream of mine last night:

I'm in a kindergarten classroom, sitting down on the floor with kids half my size. However, I feel like I fit in and the only thing I dislike about the place is the rats in the courtyard...There's about thirty of those giant wharf rats in the middle of a green courtyard that you can see through our open door. Sometimes they even run into the classroom, and when they do, we have to chase them down and throw them out. I hate it when they do that.

But then something else comes into the classroom, and it's not a rat, but a man with a gun. He starts to shoot all my classmates, but I do not see his face or the gun. The young teacher covers me with her body and I cover a little boy's with mine. The three of us are all in this pathetic, hopeless dogpile.

The man ends up shooting the teacher in the heart and the boy I was shielding in the head. I survive the shooting with a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

Afterwards, I run to my father for comfort and reassurance.

The metaphorical resonance of the dream is astounding...It's obviously about my long-suppressed feelings about the shooting in Connecticut. 

I know, I know...The children! It's so horrible! Yeah, I know everybody feels for them, but a lot of the time, I can't help but feel like their cries aren't genuine. They all say the same thing: It's absolutely horrible! There are no words to describe this tragedy. I saw it repeated over and over on facebook and the news. There's no depth or variability to their words. I know people are telling the truth when they say that what happened is awful, but I feel like no one has the right to say those things...They don't know them. I don't have the right to tell people how I feel about it...So I stay quiet. I never say anything and always change the topic when it comes up.

The magazines are the worst. I'm reading these articles about how these children were great people and that all of their last words were "I Love You." Those magazines can dress up their deaths all they want, but it'll never be enough. People can express all the grief in the world and you know what? It still wouldn't be enough because they were ALIVE and nothing can possibly describe being alive and then being not alive.

How do you feel about the outpouring of grief towards this event?