In Remembrance

Writing the basic news story is simple enough, just answer the following questions: who, what, when, where, how, and why? Unfortunately, the why, the most important insight we gain from the story, cannot always be known or explained. Take this past weekend’s tragic events:  who? 20 children ages 6-7 and 6 adults. What? Were murdered, shot 3-11 times each. When? Friday morning. Where? Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. How? A shooter forced entry –despite automatic, daily lock down procedures implemented by the school– and gunned down two first grade classrooms before taking his own life. Why?…

Inherent in our humanity, we search for reason. But reason can’t be found in the unreasonable. Clarity cannot be found in such chaos. And so we are left baffled, wounded and helpless in the midst of tragedy.

Too many times in our country’s recent history, our nation has come together to mourn the heartbreaking loss of lives stolen by crazed terrorists: Columbine, 9/11, Virginia Tech, the Movie Theater Massacre and now the Sandy Hook School Shooting. No matter if these killers were bullied, acted as religious fundamentalists, suffered from anger management issues, were schizophrenic, or had personality disorders, we will never have an answer for why.

Perhaps the only insights we can take away from this past weekend are life is fragile, life is precious, and life is borrowed.

As we, as a country, move our attention back to the holiday season, remember to keep 26 Americans and their families who won’t be celebrating together or bringing in a new year:

– 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, 45
– 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
– Allison N. Wyatt, 6

Cover Photo Source: Priya Deonarain via Flickr
Photo Source 1:  White House via Wikimedia Commons

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://wpmaster.sjadv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Cassandra-Bremer-Our-Space-Photo-e1402061863316.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Cassandra is a Content Manager and Developer at SJG. She earned her BA from Fontbonne University in 2011. Outside the office, she enjoys an active, healthy and well-rounded lifestyle including reading, writing, running, golfing, watching films, listening to music, taking photographs, and consuming media and social media.

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