Friday morning I, like so many of us, was shocked to see on the news that a psychopath had gone on a killing spree in Newtown, Connecticut. Even worse, the coward had chosen an elementary school as his target. I was physically sick at seeing the number of dead… many of whom were children. I cannot comprehend the loss of life, nor how those parents must have felt. I am the kind of person who is not able to watch these sorts of things on the news and put it behind me… it affects me far longer and far more deeply than most. I’ve had people tell me over the years that I need to try to put these sorts of things behind me or I will drive myself crazy over time. That may well be true, but I can’t stop being who I am. I’m not going to pretend that I know what it is like to grieve for that kind of loss of life. I’m not going to pretend that I know how to feel that sort of pain. I’m not going to pretend that I know how to stop these active shooter events. Anyone who thinks they have all the answers is arrogant or ignorant or both. However, I think doing nothing at all is a great injustice to these families as well.
Today, it finally became apparent to me that I could no longer just do nothing at all. I have decided that over the next 2 months I will donate ALL of my profits from sales of the BioLayne Signature Series Shirts from OUTWORK Apparel to charities designated by the victims of this tragedy including the The Sandy Hook Elementary School Victims Relief Fund: http://www.crowdrise.com/SHSRelief and The Sandy Hook School Support Fund: https://newtown.uwwesternct.org/
To purchase these shirts please visit: http://www.outworkapparel.com/layne-norton-series-1/
I also pledge to donate $1 for every pound that I max squat at my next meet on January 19th towards a charity for these victims… and I aim to squat A LOT! I also would love it if people would pledge some of their own money to donate for every lb that I squat as well, or just donate for the sake of donating. I plan to research further about how to make pledge options for people. We can never bring these children back, but the least we can do is show our support to these families who have been affected by this tragedy.
With all that said, I humbly request that you do whatever you can to help and that you cherish the people you care about. I also request that you do not squander your life. We all owe a debt to the young lives cut short before they ever got a chance. The debt we owe them is to maximize our own potential because they never had the opportunity to do so. Become something greater than you were intended to be.
Sincerely,
Layne & Isabel
