Remember the Victims, Not the Violators

Yesterday, the world witnessed yet another senseless act of violence in the mass shooting carried out at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.  I first began to see the news on the event while I was working at the public middle school where I am employed, and when I came home later yesterday evening, I found myself unable to watch the details unfold on the nightly news.  It wasn't only that I didn't want my own young son to hear the words "children dead" or "teachers killed" spoken repeatedly on the broadcast—although that was certainly a factor—I just could watch the video clips being shown over and over with both moving and still images of children running away from their school, crying and terrified, or parents being tearfully reunited with surviving children or being comforted upon discovery that their children had not been spared.  It is terrible.  It is heartbreaking.  It is horrific.  And I cannot begin to imagine the devastation of that community.

Unfortunately, these types of incidents continue.  I don't know what the solution is.  Is it more gun control?  More investment in identifying and treating mentally unstable people?  Arming school faculties?  More security at schools?  More religion?  Less press coverage?  All of these have been bandied about on the news after each terrible act of violence carried out against innocent people over the last several decades.  But to tell the truth, I don't know, and I don't profess to have the answers.  I don't think that I can find a perfect solution for senselessness.

Earlier today, I saw this quote wrongly attributed to Morgan Freeman (but relevant nonetheless):

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem."

Another friend of mine takes a cue the Biblical book of Job, saying

Perhaps the best thing to do at these times isn't to find a debate or try to give answers, but to follow the example of Job's friends early in the story. Just be quiet and weep with those who are weeping.

I have decided to dedicate this post to the memory of the 26 people who lost their lives.  They ought to be the names and faces on the news, not the maniac who murdered them.  He should be forgotten to history, another nameless killer who needlessly ended 26 beautiful lives.

I don't know the stories of every victim, although I am sure there is a tragically heartbreaking story behind each and every one of them.  Because I cannot force myself to watch the news yet, I have seen only the individual story of one of the heroic teachers who protected her students, at the expense of her own life.

This is Victoria Soto, 27, who died a hero yesterday. She hid her first graders in the cabinets and closets after hearing the gunfire. When the shooter came to her classroom, she told him that her students were in the gym. He then gunned her down and moved on. She saved the lives of every one of her students. She deserves to be remembered for her bravery.

If I learn the stories of these other victims, I may come back and add them here someday.  For now, I want to make a point of remembering their names and the loss of each one of them as precious individuals.

If you are someone who prays, pray for the families of these people—their parents, siblings, children, and other family.  Pray for their friends, their schoolmates, their students, their community.  Events like this reach deep into the heart of a community, affecting everyone.

Remember these lives:

Rachel Davino, 29
Dawn Hocksprung, 47
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Victoria Soto, 27
Lauren Russeau, 30
Mary Sherlach, 56

Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Madeline Hsu, 6
Catherine Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison Wyatt, 6

No one deserves this.  Children deserve to go to school, knowing that they are safe.  Teachers deserve to go to work each day and focus on educating their students; they should not have to be faced with defending those children against man-made dangers such as these.  As parents, we do the best we can to ensure our childrens' safety at all times, and I don't even want to know the sort of sorrow that would become a part of life for the families of these children.

I am thankful that, even though the media makes it seem otherwise, that events such as this are rare.  However, even one such act is too many.  This should not happen.

I don't know what the solution is, but there must be one, and it must be found.

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