Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Solemn commemoration....

 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.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury


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