How Soon We Forget

On this day in 2012, the Sandy Hook School shootings occurred. Twenty first graders and six educators died when a disturbed 20 year old with an assault weapon attacked the school.

Let that sink in for a moment. Those kids at Sandy Hook were six years old. Imagine the pain that their parents (and grandparents) felt. Imagine how those parents feel every Christmas, every birthday for the past nine years.

Imagine the love shown by those six educators. They literally gave their lives to protect their students.

We justify sacrifice by saying that a “better world” resulted. Hundreds of thousands of GIs died in WW II but the world is a better place without Hitler and Tojo. Four thousand GIs died in Iraq but we got rid of those (imaginary) Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Surely, Sandy Hook would bring a “ better world” with some sort of gun control. If the murder of a classroom full of first graders doesn’t do that, nothing will.

It didn’t work. We still suffer mass shootings on a regular basis, even in schools — Parkland (FL) and just last week, Oakland (MI). School kids today know what to do during a “Shooter Drill”. The Nuclear Attack Drills from my youth were scary enough. “Crouch under your desk, kids. It will protect you from a nuclear blast.” Desks were much sturdier back then.

Nine years after Sandy Hook, the Pennsylvania Legislature is rushing through a bill to legalize “concealed carry” to make it even easier for a disturbed and armed person to slip in to a school. How soon we forget.