Completely OT: Emotions?

[emms]

This is COMPLETELY off topic and may be graphic so proceed with caution!!


This morning as I was driving into work, past the local high school there were many police cars and ambulances (about 20 total), and I began to get concerned that there was a carbon monoxide problem at the high school (last night was the first really cold night). So, I get to my office and by 9 am, get a call from a co-worker that there had been some sort of accident and kids were taken from the school, but the rest of the school was on "lock-down." But, he couldn't get any information, so he asked me to look into it, as I know the Chief of Police and the Mayor.


So I come to find out that in our little, po-dunk Indiana town, there has been a "mass stabbing" of 8 high school children. It appears that a student started stabbing kids in Spanish class, and all the papers say is that they were "severe stab wounds." Of course, being in this small town, I get calls saying there have been limbs severed, etc. (We all like to gossip). So anyway....


It's very interesting to me that I am extremely upset about this. I have been crying all morning. I don't get emtional about anything!I know thatthere is an amount of shock that is happening, but I just can't stop crying.It's bothering me that this happened and that I'm crying at work (I work with ALL men). I just can't wrap my mind around this one...


One more thing...I also keep thinking that these poor kids are stuck at school (parents have been denied if they want to take the kids out of school) and what if they are sick? What if they need to leave because they are V*ing after what they have seen?


Thanks for letting me vent! Sorry if this was offensive to anyone!

[Jenneh]

blimey what a thing to hear about...


its ok to be shocked by this... but remember those little kids are unlikely to be emetophobic, they're not gnna care if they v* or not.. maybe i got th wrong end of the stick, mayube thats not what u were saying,


sounds lke ur just a lovely concerned person. nothing wrong with that.


Jen xxxxx

[jennyleigh1975]

What a horrible thing to have happen in your small town. I cant believe the school is not letting parents pick up their children, I would want my child with ME!! Lets just hope and pray that if there are any emetophobic children there that they get the support they need. God bless them all!!!! Let us know what happens as the events un-fold.

Sending hugs your way .................

[redapple]

maybe you were so affected by what happened since you drove right past the high school and saw the police cars there? try to remember that chances are the kids don't have the sort of problems that we have, plus they were undoubtedly surrounded by adults they can trust to support them. I'm so sorry for what your community is going thru!

[emms]

Thank you all for your posts! As the day progressed, I found out more details. All of the kids were not injured seriously, mostly slashes on the face and arms, and all were released from the hospital by the end of the day. It's just so hard to think that I was in high school only 7 years ago and I was NEVER afraid to go to school. I cannot imagine what it is like for kids to go to school, never knowing if someone was going to do something like this!
Being in such a tight knit community, you wonder how this boy was overlooked. I mean, we all know each other and had no way of predicting this (not that any one would have!).
Again, thank you all for your posts!

[sparky2004]

I recommend that you talk about this a lot, and seek help if you begin to have bad dreams about it. This incident could spark "Critical Incident Stress" in a lot of the emergency response teams, as well as people involved.


Just remember, that was an aweful thing. You are a normal person, having very normal reactions, to an abnormal situation.

[sage]

A certain amount of emotional distress over this sort of thing "so close to home" is totally normal, or should I say "typical". And I agree with Sparky.


The other thing I'll throw in, is that emetophobia is actually one of the phobias very closely associated with blood/injury phobia. And the characteristic of this type of phobia is that the phobic puts himself in the position of the afflicted one. When people faint at the sight of blood, it is because their brain thinks THEY are losing blood (hence, the fainting). No othe phobic responsetends to causefainting, interestingly enough - it usually causes fleeing.


So since you have this emetophobia, you areprobably more likely to be identifying with the victims in the classroom. Iam especially interested that you mention "what if one of them vomits and wants to leave". That's something YOU would think, but as the other posters pointed out, most people won't care about something like that.


The way out of this distress is tokeep reminding yourself that nothing happened to YOU. YOU are perfectly safe, you're ok, etc. Don't start catastrophizing with "what ifs", etc. Just keep telling your brain that nothing happened to you.


And yes, get some help - talk to a professional about it, if at allpossible.