I woke up sad this morning. There was just a heaviness blanketing my soul. It is a strange thing to say just 10 days before Christmas. But maybe that’s what makes it so bad.
See, it was 10 years ago today that a gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 children and 6 teachers and staff.
It wasn’t the first school shooting. There had been Columbine, Virginia Tech. But this was different.
These were elementary school children.
Children.
Children.
President Obama said it was the worst day of his entire presidency.
Our nation was shocked.
We pledged Never Again!
And we know how that went. Nothing!
Never again until the next time. Never again until we go through the litany of thoughts and prayers. Never again until….
Since Sandy Hook there have been there have been 189 shootings at schools that resulted in at least one fatality. We have an entire generation that have grown up practicing what to do when there is an active shooter in their school.
When….not if.
I have a daughter who is a high school teacher who has been locked down because of a shooting in their area, a student with a gun in her school. This is not random. This is real.
It is not history. It is current event.
According to Education Week, as of December 13, there have been 48 school shootings with injuries or deaths
133 People killed or injured in a school shooting
36 People killed
29 Students or other children killed
7 School employees or other adults killed
97 People injured
That is almost a shooting a week.
In our schools!
Just in our schools.
THIS YEAR!
That doesn’t count the thousands of children who die every year through random gun violence!
Never again?
Do you understand why I am sad today? It is enough to make one fall into despair, and I confess that I often flirt with that emotion.
But I still hope. Hope not as in a wish that maybe suddenly all this killing will stop. I fall into hope as Václav Havel spoke of when he said “Hope… is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but, rather, an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.”
So today I am sad. But I still hope. I still believe! I will continue to hope, and call, and contribute, and speak out until that promise of “Never Again” becomes reality.
Will you join me?