News What the President secretly did at Sandy Hook Elementary School

http://voxpopulisphere.com/2015/12/11/10733/
Joshua Dubois: What the President secretly did at Sandy Hook Elementary School

Below is an excerpt from The President’s Devotional by Joshua Dubois, the former head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He’s recounting events that occurred Sunday, December 16, 2012 — two days after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and 6 adult staff members. Dubois had gotten word the day before that the President wanted to meet with the families of the victims:

I left early to help the advance team—the hardworking folks who handle logistics for every event—set things up, and I arrived at the local high school where the meetings and memorial service would take place. We prepared seven or eight classrooms for the families of the slain children and teachers, two or three families to a classroom, placing water and tissues and snacks in each one. Honestly, we didn’t know how to prepare; it was the best we could think of.

The families came in and gathered together, room by room. Many struggled to offer a weak smile when we whispered, “The president will be here soon.” A few were visibly angry—so understandable that it barely needs to be said—and were looking for someone, anyone, to blame. Mostly they sat in silence.

I went downstairs to greet President Obama when he arrived, and I provided an overview of the situation. “Two families per classroom . . . The first is . . . and their child was . . . The second is . . . and their child was . . . We’ll tell you the rest as you go.”

The president took a deep breath and steeled himself, and went into the first classroom. And what happened next I’ll never forget.

Person after person received an engulfing hug from our commander in chief. He’d say, “Tell me about your son. . . . Tell me about your daughter,” and then hold pictures of the lost beloved as their parents described favorite foods, television shows, and the sound of their laughter. For the younger siblings of those who had passed away—many of them two, three, or four years old, too young to understand it all—the president would grab them and toss them, laughing, up into the air, and then hand them a box of White House M&M’s, which were always kept close at hand. In each room, I saw his eyes water, but he did not break.

And then the entire scene would repeat—for hours. Over and over and over again, through well over a hundred relatives of the fallen, each one equally broken, wrecked by the loss. After each classroom, we would go back into those fluorescent hallways and walk through the names of the coming families, and then the president would dive back in, like a soldier returning to a tour of duty in a worthy but wearing war. We spent what felt like a lifetime in those classrooms, and every single person received the same tender treatment. The same hugs. The same looks, directly in their eyes. The same sincere offer of support and prayer.

The staff did the preparation work, but the comfort and healing were all on President Obama. I remember worrying about the toll it was taking on him. And of course, even a president’s comfort was woefully inadequate for these families in the face of this particularly unspeakable loss. But it became some small measure of love, on a weekend when evil reigned.

 

Thanks, Obama.

No, really.

Thanks.

 

That's a great post. All this internet nonsense takes the humanity out of these situations.

 

I'm not a fan of his at all, but if this is true, good on him.

 

When I say internet nonsense I'm referring to people like @Jim J Jiblets

 

If he has to personally meet and greet every single Syrian refugee he's letting in he's probably only let 20 in

 

What a heartwarming story.

Why didn't OP include this staged photo included in the article?



Oh, and Vox is a pro-2nd Amendment rag, right?

 

Any other president would have done the same thing.

 

Look regardless of political affiliation the presidents are good people that want to do well and America to do well
Love him or hate him, Obama is a husband and father as was George Bush. If you have kids and weren't impacted deeply by Sandy Hook you're a cold hearted bastard. The President did what any good person would do and tried to offer an emotional safe harbor for even a few moments to families stuck in an unimaginable storm

For this i applauded his efforts and humanity

 

I've been crying on and off all day today....
Thanks a lot Pedro
That was such a sad sad day.....

 

Shouldn't this be in Spanish, or at least Pig Latin?

 

Happens all the time.

 

I did?? I didn't mean to
God, I'm a mess.... I feel like @Nibbler

 

Uh Oh. That's not good.
C'mere you,

 

Yeah so......What the fuck else was he supposed to do? Every President that went to a disaster or tragedy of any kind has done the same........
Touch him on the ass with a golden thumb...........

 

Snotty weighing in with his words of wisdom