WHY are we wringing our hands at the massacre of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, when we sit by as our young people are bombarded daily by murder and mayhem on televsion?

I’m thinking of reality programs that are based on the cruel sport of watching contestants humiliated, degraded, made a laughing stock of and left with little dignity.

The producers then put it right with a few hugs, some tears and empty words of sympathy.

The news serves up a daily dose of graphic footage of the injured, the dead and the dying, all for our delectation. Followers of 24-hour news only pause from the horror to put the kettle on.

Our children are given video games that are cruel and brutal in their pursuit of winning. We have stopped any form of prayers or religion in many of our schools for fear that it might corrupt.

Whether you have a belief or a faith is not the question, the issue is whether we are bringing our children up without guidance.

The Ten Commandments are good rules. They are about being civilised and caring for your neighbour.

Knowing the Commandments reminds you that other people matter – that brutality, cruelty and bullying are not acceptable and degrade us all as human beings.

This only makes it even more cynical when our governments rush in to other countries to save them from the very things we are accepting as the norm. A country without a faith is almost a lost cause.

The devil is not only in the detail, the devil is in charge.

Just be thankful our attitude to guns is so much more sensible than the Americans. Otherwise, it could happen here.

Shelagh Harnby, Stockton.

CHRISTMAS is a time for reflection.

Sadly, we cannot always reflect on happy moments.

In recent years we have had tsunamis and what we might describe as “natural” disasters to consider.

But natural or otherwise, tragedy hurts. It hurts those directly affected by the events as they unfold and, for those of us looking on, there is shock and dismay and many questions. The main one being: could it have been prevented?

Newtown in Connecticut is a community devastated by killing. Twenty-six people have been shot dead, including 20 children in a kindergarten school which suffered the wrath of a crazed gunman who then turned the gun on himself.

The scenario seems depressingly familiar in the US.

Of course, here in Britain we are not without our share of violent crime but, thankfully, not on the same scale.

The questions as to why is usually followed by demands for a review of firearms possession and tighter laws on regulation and licences.

In Britain, we had Dunblane and, in the inquiry that followed, tighter gun controls were recommended and acted upon.

The small town in Scotland and the community of Newtown share the same horror and grief.

That is not to say that it is any different if the victim, or victims, are young or old.

But as we know children are particularly vulnerable. Their life experience is limited.

Undoubtedly, their minds will have been on activities of the day and looking forward to Christmas.

The Connecticut massacre is a reminder that life is precious and moments we spend with loved ones should be treasured.

Bernie Walsh, Coxhoe.