Everyone has their own opinions about what happened at Sandy Hook on Saturday but in my mind there are only 27 facts that stand out. They are: Charlotte Bacon, Daniel Barden, Olivia Engel, Josephine Gay, Ana M Marquez-Greene, Dylan Hockley, Madeleine F Hsu, Catherine V Hubbard, Chase Kowalski, Jesse Lewis, James Mattioli, Grace McDonnell, Emilie Parker, Jack Pinto, Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos, Avielle Richman, Benjamin Wheeler, Allison N Wyatt, Rachel Davino, Dawn Hocksprung, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Russeau, March Sherlach, Victoria Soto and Nancy Lanza. They are the 27 things that matter. They all lost their lives too young, most way too young. They were all someone's sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, some even mothers and wives. And yes, I did included the killers mother because she was a victim too. She didn't ask for a son who would turn out to be criminally insane and I could almost bet that she had no idea what her son was capable of.
Right now and for the next days, months and even years to come THEY should be what we remember of that day. The innocent children, the heroic teachers and the principal and counselor, armed with only their bodies and quick thinking, who tried to take down the shooter. I will not once mention his name because he does not matter. I understand that he may have been mentally ill but it takes some kind of logic, some kind of lucid thinking to perform all those acts together to do what he did. It's not an excuse, especially in this case, because those victims were mostly babies. They still believed in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. They still put their teeth under their pillow at night anxiously awaiting the Tooth Fairy to show. They played cowboys and Indians, and I can guarantee that every one of those little girls had a least one Barbie. They dressed up as their favorite super hero or fairy princess on Halloween. They spent Saturday morning waking their parents up at an ungodly hour to watch cartoon while eating Fruit Loops. They were once our future, but because of him they will instead be our legacy.
THEY are what we should focus on. This country needs to be there while their loved one's grieve and we need to be there to help them move past this. Sandy Hook was affected the most but the whole nation felt the after shocks. If there is one person out there that can honestly say that their heart didn't break, at least a little, when they read or heard about this then they have serious problems. No parent should ever have to worry about whether or not they are ever going to see their child again when he or she get on the bus in the morning. This should not have happened, but it did and now we need to help that town pick up the pieces by showing as much love and support as humanly possible. If it takes a whole nation to help them heal then so be it.
Hug your children, thank their teachers, cry for the lost and cherish those you hold close to your heart. But at the same time move forward and refuse to live in fear because not doing so will be giving in and admitting defeat.
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