DEATHS IN NEWTOWN INSPIRE - On Monday, the teachers and counselors in my children’s schools – and no doubt yours as well – talked with our kids about the atrocity that happened in Newtown, Conn., on Friday morning. They held town meetings and class discussions; they answered questions and offered hope. It was a continuation of the heartbreaking conversations we parents engaged in all weekend long with our sons and daughters, as we struggled to find words to explain the most unexplainable horror.
But as the initial shock and sadness of the shooting begin to subside and we move forward, we’re going to choose how the tragedy will inform our lives. And we have a chance to not just console and reassure our kids, but to empower them.
Inspired by other “millions” marches of the past, a movement to hold A One Million Child march on Washington in February to lobby for “sane” gun laws has sprouted up on Facebook. It’s already garnered thousands of likes and RSVPs, because as the organizer, a father of two, asks, “Who could say no to a million kids? Not even Congress.”
Aside from the fact that Congress has a long and storied history of flipping the bird at kids, minorities, the elderly, the disabled — you get the point – the march has the potential to become a galvanizing moment not just in the debate over guns, but in the lives of thousands of families. It’s an opportunity to teach kids the power of their voices, of their hope, of their love — and to show that power to the world.
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 101
Pub: Dec 18, 2012
