December 14, 2022
Ten years ago today, tragedy
came to live in a community called Newtown, Connecticut.
It was a beautiful, late fall
day. The sun was shining, and the temperature had been forecast to hit 43
degrees. The day began, I imagine, much as any day begins. Parents roused
sleepy children early, getting them up and dressed, and then sitting down to
breakfast. There would have been the usual sounds of family life, sounds that would
have run the gamut from laughter to tears, as most every day does. Could be
someone couldn’t find their shoes, while someone else had to change their
socks, so that they matched. Teeth had to be brushed—and hair, too. Finally,
what was likely a familiar if hectic daily rush out the door as the parents would
have taken their children to school and then headed on to work themselves.
Some families would have had
their Christmas trees up already, and some would have had that on the calendar
for the next day, which in 2012 was Saturday.
And then, shortly after
9:35am, at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the unthinkable happened.
I remember at the time just
sitting in shock, and tears, as I watched the news coverage unfold. We’ve had a
few horrible mass shootings here in Canada, but nothing like this. Nothing had
ever been like this.
And I remember thinking,
surely now something will be done. There are so many things that can be
done to help to mitigate the kind of violence we saw that day. And really, none
of those things involve anyone coming in black helicopters to seize anybody’s
weapons.
Now, here we are 10 years
later, and although slowly, the movement for common sense gun control
legislation has been gathering activists and action. More than 500 pieces of
legislation on the state and local level have been enacted. In June the first
significant piece of federal legislation in more than 30 years was passed
thanks to bipartisan cooperation.
I have come to the realization
that we’ll likely never see a revolutionary big law as I expected in the days
and then weeks and months following the massacre, Sandy Hook. I was expecting a
big and sudden change and felt very disappointed there was none, but really, I
should have known better. After all, the turtle did win the race against the
hare for a reason.
I take comfort in the knowledge
that the coalition of groups and activists working together toward a goal of universal
gun safety legislation is now larger and more powerful than the NRA. They are
active in every state, I believe. There is hope, and as long as there is some
progress, there also needs to be patience.
The Safer Communities Act was
signed into law this past summer. It was a beginning on the federal level, but
not the end. I choose to believe it was not the end, because those 20 wee children
and 6 educators should never be forgotten.
I am going to spend some of
today remembering the lives lost ten years ago. I’ll likely shed more than a
few tears, but that’s as it should be. And I am going take time to pray
something more will be done than that one piece of anti-gun violence (not
anti-gun) legislation that was passed.
Love,
Morgan
http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury
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