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The nation is in a state of mass mourning in the wake of a shooting rampage at a grade school in Connecticut. 20 small children gunned down in their classrooms, victims of a black clad gunman gone amok, turning his gun on the kindergarteners taught by the mother he had killed earlier. As the story broke, TV programs were interrupted, the screens filled with the stricken faces of news anchors, their laments followed by the appearance of President Obama, fighting back tears, empathizing with parents. Then came the cops who'd responded to the 911 call, and the wide-eyed youngsters all hustled before the cameras to describe what they had witnessed. Throughout the country the reaction was one of shock. Things like this aren't supposed to break out in idyllic little New England towns, - havens far removed from the death and violence found in the streets of big city ghettos. How could this happen was the question on everybody's lips as vows were made to prevent tragedies like this in the future, disasters that are unacceptable - when they occur in peaceful white enclaves where the chief worry was more apt to be about the outcome of a child's soccer game.Something had to be done and the outcry for gun control filled the airways as if hoping to get a jump on gun owners reminding that the madman who pulled the trigger was the real culprit. Meanwhile, back in the black inner cities, residents familiar with the violence that is a part of their every day existence, shared the pain of grief stricken Connecticut parents. But who could blame battle-scarred black mothers if they are a tad case hardened? Who could chide them if "welcome to the real world" was the phrase that came to their minds? Who could doubt that the tears they'd shed over killed loved ones were any less salty than those of America's privileged? Welcome to the real world, indeed. "And this, too, shall pass." But for some, the struggle remains constant.