Friday, December 14, 2012

Remember One, Remember All

“There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief.”
~ Aeschylus quotes (Ancient Greek Dramatist and Playwright, 525 BC-456 BC)

Some people may see the publication of this list as an invasion of privacy.  And it may be.  But it's online everywhere now and every major news outlet has published it or broadcast it. 

I just wanted to list the names here because I think it has impact.  Hearing about the tragedy made me feel disbelief and anger.  Watching President Obama speak, and seeing him stop to collect his emotions left me with a lump in my throat and holding back tears.  Seeing the names and ages of these beautiful, innocent children made me cry. 

I thought of my young nephews, my best friend's young children, and all of my little cousins, some of who are right around this age.  I can't fathom any kind of feeling the parents of these children must be experiencing, but I will not forget this day.  And I think instead of making the shooter a household name, we should remember  the names of these little kids - commit one name to memory - and when you remember that one, you will be reminded of all.  Think about what their families and friends are going through. 

These are the names and ages of the 26 people gunned down today at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.  It is the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.  The children are listed first, then the adults.


Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Madeleine 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

Rachel Davino, 29 (Teacher)

Dawn Hochsprung, 47  (School principal)

Anne Marie Murphy, 52  (Teacher)

Lauren Rousseau, 30  (Teacher)


Mary Sherlach, 56  (School phychologist)


Victoria Soto,27  (Teacher)


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2011: History Still Standing
2010: Stay Home: TV And Hot Chocolate Is The Only Way To Make It Through
2009: A Rainy Rainbow
2008: Be Wary Of Women Wearing Skull Panties
2007: Holiday Sparkle
2006: Arizona Sunset
2005: Before And After The Chops

3 comments:

Gil said...

RIP! Praying for the deceased and their families left to deal with such unimaginable losses.

Belledog said...

What really got me was the coroner's list, with the 2005 and 2006 birthdates. Somehow that communicates more to me than a list of ages.

Monstrous, but we can reduce these violent deaths significantly if we let our sadness fuel a struggle to keep high-powered weapons out of the hands of those who cannot safely own or use them.

I truly believe that. The founding fathers did not foresee arsenal America, or a nation that cannot pay its teachers sufficiently, but has Fox TV jerks blabbing on about how every school should have an armed guard.

We stopped calling people "nigras" (most of us, and in public anyway). Women must legally be paid the same rate as men for the same type of work. Gay people are now free to serve the country they love, in its military. We've sent astronauts to the moon and brought them back alive, and conquered polio and smallpox. AIDS still kills, but it's more of a chronic and manageable disease than an automatic death sentence. None of this happened fast or on the cheap.

Change will take time.

Concurrently, I will be working hard to increase public financing of elections, and reduce the role of private money in buying our elected officials.

Because that is what has happened.

I believe in the right to bear arms.

I also believe in the responsibility to have them legally purchased and registered, to maintain them safely, and to keep them out of reach of children, the mentally ill, and -- to the extent possible -- criminals.

There are military grade weapons and accessories that do not belong in wide circulation. Other countries are far safer for not having such weapons pulsing through their societies.

We can separate responsible gun owners from gun fanatics.

Society has an interest in seeing that children and teachers can safely attend school, that we can go to movies and public gatherings, that depressed loners don't show up with guns at malls and on overpasses.

We can't stop all gun violence, but we can sure reduce it.

That's freedom.

I'm staying away from TV and cable coverage of this murder of innocents, although reading about it, selectively.

I don't want to become inured or desensitized to this tragedy. And watch out, because a lot of interests will be more than happy if the average American says "what a tragedy. Too bad we can't do anything about it. Oh well."

MAE said...

Thanks Salena...Your idea to list names had a great impact on me and I commend you the insight to do so...My prayers will include all the families.