Tomorrow is the thirteenth anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut, something many of us couldn't grasp when it happened, and I confess, I still don't "get."
I'm not any smarter now than I was then, except to acknowledge that I'm not any smarter. and am no closer to understanding. That I will never be is of very small solace.
I cannot imagine how long tomorrow will be for someone who suffered the loss of a child, a husband or a wife, a son or daughter, but I do know that in Newtown, Connecticut, everyone trying to heal will hurt again.
For a small town whose residents will always have broken hearts, tomorrow will just be the next day in the unending tragedy which will only end when all memory of what happened has gone. And that will never happen.
Those murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary School weren't 'victims,' they were people, mostly incredibly tiny and very young people.
The Innocents included: Charlotte Bacon, 6; Daniel Barden, 7; Rachel Davino, 29; Olivia Engel, 6; Josephine Gay, 7; Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 6; Dylan Hockley, 6; Dawn Hochsprung, 47; Madeleine F. Hsu, 6; Catherine V. Hubbard, 6; Chase Kowalski, 7; Jesse Lewis, 6; James Mattioli, 6; Grace McDonnell, 7; Anne Marie Murphy, 52; Emilie Parker, 6; Jack Pinto, 6; Noah Pozner, 6; Caroline Previdi, 6; Jessica Rekos, 6; Avielle Richman, 6; Lauren Rousseau, 30; Mary Sherlach, 56; Victoria Soto, 27; Benjamin Wheeler, 6 and Allison N. Wyatt, 6.
Even if you have a problem with God, maybe a truce is in order so you can remember the twenty-six angels who entered heaven thirteen years ago tomorrow.
"This is a prayer for the souls of the departed." Sadly, we should know it by heart.
-bill kenny
-bill kenny
