Twenty children who will never grow to know the world they entered. Twenty truly innocent lives stopped before they had a chance to start. Feeble status updates on Facebook and more arguing over gun control laws. Prayers for families and those affected; disgust and contempt for a person capable of such violence. A nation grieving, cursing the capabilities of today’s world. Who is responsible for this madness? This is our world. Adam Lanza was a human being just like his mother whose death directly preceded the Sandy Hook Elementary events. To say that the shooter is solely responsible for today’s massacre in Newtown, CT is to believe that our race is capable of an inherent evil. I cannot and will not ever accept that as truth.
Those twenty children are at least spared growing up in a self absorbed world full of people who say all the right things, and can cry on demand, but care nothing for their fellow man. Malevolence is a choice and a lifestyle; it is not natural. The students who died today were not around long enough to learn the ugly ways of society. With their youthful deaths they retained their optimism and vigor that would have eventually been torn away by the unjust anger we thrust upon each other.
The pity, the wrath, the wasted words and the politicized arguments must stop. None of that will honor the lives lost. It will not be productive and it will not stop the slew of violence our world has come under. Instead, I beg you all to make a change that will affect everyone. It is simple, costs nothing and requires no new legislature. Just be nice. Treat others with respect and kindness, always. Here and now, before anyone else gets shot. Choose empathy over sympathy. The smallest, most insignificant gestures have the power to change lives. Imagine a world where no one has ever learned the behavior of mistreatment.
Some might say that that is impossible, and that it is an unattainable goal. Well it is a goal that you personally can accomplish. You can’t get rid of all of the guns; you can’t bring those families back their children. It is physically impossible to create a law that prevents violence, but you can think of others in addition to yourself. That is something within every man’s grasp.
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