I'm back home and I just feel raw. [View all]

[Skidmore]

Last edited Wed Dec 19, 2012, 01:21 PM - Edit history (1)

I went into town to get my weekly grocery shopping done and to beat this storm that is headed this way. At the cash machine, there was a line. A couple, three women, a guy and me. While we were waiting, one of the ladies commented on trying to get everything done before the holiday had not be progressing well. I told her we hadn't even decorated this year since the grandchildren would be at their other grandparent's for Christmas. One of the ladies said something about its hard to even think about celebrating anything after this past week. Everyone nodded and one of the guys said, "It's been tough." We all kind of looked at each other and every single one of us had tears in our eyes. A group of total strangers, not a one of us under 50, standing in a store with tears streaming down our faces. It was as if a dam broke and we had a conversation about children, guns, and excess. One of the men said he would never have thought he would live to see the day that children could be slaughtered and that there would be people opposed to taking measures to make the world a little safer for them. All of us had grandchildren in the age range of those babies at Sandy Hook.

I live right in the middle of the country where people hunt. There's a shooting range about a mile to the NW of my home. People out and about today in my community and area are very somber. The mood is not festive at all but subdued. I do think that those who believe that there should be nothing done around firearms are underestimating how deeply this event has been felt and internalized by the nation.

"Something needs to change."

Yes it does.