It’s an awful story. All those people, and children, killed by a madman at a school in Connecticut.

We talk about how small the world is, these days. And sometimes that smallness pops up in alarming ways.

As when Leah figured out that her cousin’s wife was a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary.

We were talking about it as the first news of it was coming out. That was late tonight, over here in the UAE.

Leah a couple of times said, “Danbury, Danbury … why does that seem familiar?”

I suggested, mostly in jest, that perhaps it had a minor-league baseball team. (Which I actually did believe, but it turns out Danbury has only fleeting connections with professional sports, and mostly in a hockey sense.)

Danbury, Danbury … it was bugging her. And eventually she remembered: Her cousing had moved to Danbury, Connecticut, and his wife worked as a teacher. Somewhere in the area.

She tried to remember the maiden name of her cousin’s wife. Searching Facebook and other social media, and finally she found her.

A teacher … at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Now the story was personal, on a whole ‘nother level. We had been at the wedding, in St. Louis, of Leah’s cousin and his wife.

Then came the alarmed email to her father, back in California, who by chance (a holiday gathering) was with the mother of Leah’s cousin.

And she had gotten a text from Connecticut that Leah’s cousin was not physically harmed. But it was her school. Yes. And it had to be awful.

Sigh.

Generally we think of “small world” as a good thing. Sometimes, though, don’t we all hope some news is far, far away?